


Loss of Time

by Lopithecus



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons), Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Clingy Bruce, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, protective Clark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-30
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-04-28 22:55:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 61,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5108612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lopithecus/pseuds/Lopithecus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Let's listen to Flash, you said. I'm sure it'll be fine, you said." Batman's teeth are starting to clench. "Flash knows what he's talking about, it'll be easy and done with before you know it, you said." He's glaring and clenching his jaw so hard that Clark is almost afraid he's going to break his teeth. "Does this seem easy to you Superman, because it certainly doesn't to me?"</p><p>After a mission gone wrong, Bruce is left in a state that Clark really has no idea what to do with. Clark struggles to take care of his friend while battling his feelings for him along with trying to keep him safe from people who want to hurt him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, after a few months journey through the Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne pairing tag, I have yet to come across any de-aged fics (except for one where Bruce was turned into a baby but that story hasn't been updated in awhile.) Which is strange because if you just take a quick little hop, skip, and jaunt over to the Supernatural fandom, then de-aged fics are everywhere. So, because of the lack of a de-aged Bruce or Clark, I decided to write my own (with Bruce being the one de-aged.)
> 
> Now I know what you're thinking, "Ugh, not a de-aged fic!" But have no fear for this isn't your typical de-aging story where it is filled to the brim and overflowing with fluff abound (though there is some fluff and I promise there are some really cute parts too). No, no it's not. In fact, this story is written in my typical way of writing so it has plenty of hurt/comfort. Also, it has a very (hopefully) intensive and driven plot (not that other de-aged fics don't) and that plot is very engaging (at least I hope it seems that way.) Along with that here is a very big and important endgame to this story that is consistent throughout the whole thing, i.e., there is a major over all plot.
> 
> So really, all I ask is to give it a shot at least through chapter two. If after chapter two you still don't like it, then that is perfectly fine.
> 
> I do hope that you do enjoy this story, however, and stick around.
> 
> Now, without further ado, onto the story.
> 
> Enjoy! :)

Never again will Clark allow Flash to convince him that an "easy", as the speedster called it, mission didn't require the rest of the Justice League and that he, meaning Superman, and Batman could handle it themselves. Also, never again will he take Wally's input on how "easy" a mission is over Batman's. Whatever possessed him to listen to the over rambunctious kid in the first place is way beyond Clark, and now he just feels foolish as well as having to fight against unbelievably strong magic users on another planet while being glared at by an angry Bat.

He dodges, yet again, another ball of blue glowing magic, ducking behind a boulder. A few seconds later and a scowling, incredibly enraged, Batman is beside him. "Let's listen to Flash, you said. I'm sure it'll be fine, you said." Batman's teeth are starting to clench. "Flash knows what he's talking about, it'll be easy and done with before you know it, you said." He's glaring and clenching his jaw so hard that Clark is almost afraid he's going to break his teeth. "Does this seem easy to you Superman, because it certainly doesn't to me?"

Clark groans loudly in annoyance. "Okay, I get it! I learned my lesson. Always listen to you and not the kid that thinks too fast for his own good."

Another shot of powerful magic is projected their way but for now they are safe behind the rock. "The point is, _Superman_ , Flash doesn't have as many years of crime fighting under his belt as you and I do so he can't judge a situation as well as we can. You should have known this and had never listened to him in the first place."

"Hey," Clark begins angrily. "It's not all my fault. You could have made some others, like Wonder Woman or Green Lantern, come with us too but you didn't."

Even more anger is shown on Batman's lips as he snarls. "I tried, but you have them so wrapped around your finger that they'll believe whatever the hell you say." Clark has to hold back a flinch at Batman's words. "So when you say we'll be fine, since your word is like freaking gospel, they listen to you instead of me and didn't come!" This time Clark doesn't try to hide his flinch.

Apologetically, Clark hangs his head. "I'm sorry."

Batman grumbles some more before peeking out from behind the boulder to assess the situation. "Apologize when we make it home alive and you can make it up to me." Before Clark has time to ponder on what exactly Bruce means when he says Clark can make it up to him, Batman darts out from behind the boulder and attacks one of the five magic users with a bunch of batarangs. It's not much use since they just deflect with more magic balls, but it does give Batman the chance to get to another hiding spot where he'll be safe for the moment.

Clark turns to look over the top of the boulder and has to duck immediately to avoid a ball of magic. When he comes up again, he sees the five mages standing in a circle, holding hands. Clark shoots a look to Batman and Batman signals with his hand. Nodding once, they commence their plans as the magicians begin their chant. Clark isn’t really sure what they have planned; all he knows is that he and Batman have to stop them.

The Justice League was called from the planet’s inhabitants asking them for assistance with a group of “low level” occultist that have been wreaking havoc on one of the lower cities that are on the planet. Most of these cities are run down and have high crime rates. Poverty is the norm and you would be lucky if you even got one meal a day. Going to bed hungry is not something new for the citizens that live there. According to who asked for their help, the mages have been hurting the citizens in one of these low level cities, even to the point of killing. There’s also been an increase in reported kidnappings ever since the magicians showed up. There are a couple, but not a lot, eye witnesses that say that they’ve seen the magicians take powerless citizens off the street. What happens after they’ve been taken is of no one’s knowledge. In the end, they didn’t turn out to be low level anything and in fact highly skilled in what they do.

Batman signals for him to stop so he does. He’s out in the open where, if the mages didn’t have their eyes shut, he could be seen by them and attacked easily. He watches as Batman takes something out of his belt. It’s not something he’s ever seen before so he’s eager to see what it does. Batman continues to sneak up, crouched and silent. As soon as he’s close enough to one of the magic wielders, he swings his arm out and places the device right on his shoulder. The magician goes down immediately and withers in pain, though Clark can’t figure out what is causing the pain. The device doesn’t give off any noise or smell and there is no visual affect either. He’ll have to ask Bruce about it later.

The four mages open their eyes and turn to Batman, all of them lifting their hands in order to strike the quickly retreating figure. Batman still has his eyes on them and gets ready to dodge their attack but Clark can tell he won’t have enough time to get out of the way. Not knowing what else to do since Batman has yet to give him an order that he can move from his spot, he decides to fly to Batman just as the magic comes out of their hands. The beam heads straight to Batman who makes to move but Clark is faster. Clark gets in front of Batman seconds before the beam of blue magic would have hit Batman and it hits him instead. With a scream of pure pain, Clark is flung backwards and straight into Batman, who grunts with the impact and falls to the ground, Clark lying on top of him in anguish. If Clark wasn’t in so much pain at the moment and they weren’t fighting a group of magicians, he wouldn’t actually mind lying on top of Bruce.

He tries to get up but every move he makes causes a pain to shoot throughout his whole entire body. He only manages to roll off Batman and curl in on himself on his side, groaning from how much torment he is currently in. Clark opens his eyes to slits in order to look at Batman. He’s also groaning in pain because he just had an over two-hundred pound man hit him, but he’s sitting up at least. Batman rolls over and places a hand on his shoulder. Another wave of pain rakes through his body. “Superman, you need to get up,” Batman says in a rush, looking behind himself. Clark tries to lift his body to see what is happening. “Come on.” Batman tries to lift him but since Clark is pretty much a bundle of quivering dead weight, he really can’t do much more than lift his top half. Batman then stands and twist around quickly, putting his hand on his utility belt and standing guard over Clark’s body. He throws a few batarangs but, once again, they do nothing, and the four remaining mages continue their advance. When they stop ten feet from the two of them, Clark knows their doomed. With loud voices, the four of them say some kind of spell, Batman braces himself, and Clark just wishes the stubborn man would leave him and get out of the way. Instead, whatever magic they hit Batman with causes him to yell in pain and he crumples to the ground next to Clark, unconscious.

Clark watches one of the magicians walk over to the one Batman took out earlier and take whatever was put on him off. The magic user gets up, brushes himself off casually which really takes Clark by surprise, and snarls at the heap of Bat that is still unconscious next to him. He sees the mage whisper something to the one who took the device off him and point in their direction. Clark is sure that he and Batman are dead but when all five magicians come up to them, there’s only a boot, a pain in his head, and then blackness.

…

Clark wakes up in a cage, a small, magic infused cage. It’s so small that he can’t even stand up in it and has to stay sitting on his legs, slightly hunched. He looks around and notices another cage, tightly pushed up against his on the right, with Batman in it. A glaring, obviously annoyed Batman. “What happened?” He tries for nonchalance even though there’s a pounding in his head. He hears a growl and he’s positive it’s aimed toward him. _Okay, no talking to the Bat right now._

He continues to look around and as he does, he sees more cages within the large room. Some of the cages have adult civilians of not only this planet but others as well, and some of the cages have children in them. Clark looks at Batman in alarm. He thought it was only adults they were kidnapping. “One of the captives said that the mages like to take prisoners and turn them into children. Then they raise them as their own. Apparently, when they are turned to children, they have no memory of being kidnapped or anything prior to being de-aged.”

Batman looks calmer now and less angry so Clark dares a few words. “That’s horrible. We have to help them.”

“We have to get out first,” Batman reminds.

Clark nods. “Have you figured anything out yet?”

Batman is sitting on his bottom, legs drawn up because there’s not enough room for him to lay them out all the way, arms resting on his knees and his hands dangling out in front him. He looks casual. “Not yet.” They sit there in silence, Clark not really sure what to say and not knowing whether or not he even should talk since Batman is probably concentrating on trying to get them free. “Clark?” He jumps from the sudden sound that comes out of Batman’s mouth and hits the top of his head on the top bars which zap him with magic. He makes an exclaimed sound and rubs the top of his head, already feeling his headache getting worse. When he looks over at Batman, there’s a small, amused smirk formed on his lips.

Clark glares and Batman snorts. “What is it?”

All seriousness swoops back into Batman’s features as if they were never gone. “Why were you stupid enough to jump in front of that magic beam?”

Clark rolls his eyes but he smiles, knowing Bruce really doesn’t mean it the way it sounds. “I really appreciate the insult, thank you, and you’re welcome.”

Batman ignores his sarcasm. “It only made the situation worse.”

This time it’s Clark’s turn to snort. “We were outnumbered and skilled anyways. We both are pretty weak against magic.”

“You more than me,” Bruce says playfully and Clark laughs. “I think I’ve figured something out, a way to get out of-” Batman cuts off as the door to the room opens.

The magician Batman took out before and a companion of his walks into the room together, chatting idly. They go straight to Batman’s cage and kneel down with two identical sneers. “We have a lot planned for the two of you, especially you.” One of them reaches into the cage and strokes Batman’s face. Batman, not liking that one bit, suddenly grabs a hold of the magician’s wrist and twists it until there is a cracking sound. Bones have been broken. The mage howls in pain and wrenches his hand free. “You little fucker!” He kicks the cage and Batman only smirks. Pointing down at Batman, the mage says to his companion, “Get him ready.”

Clark sees Batman get ready to spring loose as soon as they open the cage door but to Clark’s horror, the magician’s hands start to glow. He can tell this takes Batman by surprise but Batman doesn’t have enough time to do anything other than be bewildered. He’s knocked back out before he knows it. “What are you doing?” Clark asks in alarm. They pay him no attention and open the cage door, dragging the limp body out and beginning to strip him. “Stop that!” Clark tries to take a hold of the bars and rip them apart but he’s shocked instead. “I said stop!” He watches as they drag Bruce away by the arms, completely naked and leaving his clothes behind. Clark really didn’t picture this would be the first time he ever saw Bruce nude and he’s saddened along with enraged that his first time has been tainted.

Clark sits there on his legs, head bowed, wondering what to do. He can’t touch the bars or else he gets zapped so that means he can’t pull them apart. He sits and sits for about five minutes before something comes to him. Reaching out between the bars of his cage as carefully as he can, he touches the one Bruce was in. Nothing. No zap, no sting, no magic. Smiling to himself, he grabs onto one of the bars, one that is in the back so it won’t be too noticeable, and breaks it off. He then hears footsteps that are coming closer.

Stashing the bar under his legs, he sits and waits for the mages to return. They do, opening the door to the room, and step in. Clark notices the child, who can’t be more than four or five, in one of their arms. They come over, throw the kid into Batman’s cage haphazardly, and shut the door with a clang. They then pick up Batman’s suit and utility belt and place them in a far corner of the room where there are other clothes in a pile. After they are done, they both leave.

Clark looks over to the child who is currently unconscious and studies him. He’s naked, just like the other children in the room, and has black fluffy hair. A horrified feeling dawns on Clark. Leaning as close to the bars in the direction of the kid’s cage as he can, he whispers, “Bruce?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Updates will be every Friday. Next update scheduled for: 11/6/15 EST. To see a full list of dates, please go [here](http://angelcamael.tumblr.com/post/132217933841/loss-of-time).


	2. Chapter 2

The kid doesn't wake and continues to lie on his stomach, out cold. A flash of worry runs through Clark as he eyes the child closely. His skin, unlike adult Bruce's from what he saw of it, is unmarred. There are no scars or black and blues, no new scratches or bleeding cuts, just smooth, pale skin that looks baby soft. Of course, if Clark is correct with his deduction and the child is no older than four or five, then baby soft probably isn't too far off. His black hair is the same length and is trimmed the same as adult Bruce if not a bit more untidy. The hair seems fluffy and soft, reminding Clark how he always wanted to ask Bruce what he uses for shampoo.

Clark needs to get them out there, no matter the size or age of his superhero partner, because there is no way Clark is going to be able to take all the mages out by himself. They had a hard enough time when Batman was able to fight along with him. Now that he is child size and who knows what kind of mind state, it's pretty much an impossibility to fight all the magicians. So escaping, getting back to the Javelin, back to Earth, and then having a magic user, like Zatanna or Dr. Fate, reverse whatever spell was put on Bruce, is the only option. After they fix this, then they can focus on returning and defeating the magic users, this time with help.

Clark takes the pipe that he broke off out from under him and shoves it between two of the bars of the door for the cage. Using his super strength, he pries the bars apart, bending one and then the other, until there is a small gap that is wide enough for him to crawl out. He then tries touching the cage of Bruce's to test for any magic but there's nothing. They must underestimate children more than adults. He melts the lock off with his heat vision and opens the door. Clark then shakes the small boy's shoulder. He wants to wake him to make sure that he is alright. "Bruce?"

The kid finally stirs. Rubbing at his eyes and yawning, Bruce begins to sit up. "Who are you?

"I'm..." Clark had hoped he would at least remember him. "I'm Clark."

More rubbing of his eyes and then the kid's eyes focus on him. They grow impossibly wide, a look Clark has seen on many small children before, and he exclaims excitedly, "You're Superman!" _His eyes are a really silvery blue._

Clark smiles at Bruce's enthusiasm. "Yeah, I am."

Bruce looks around the room. "Superman, why am I in a cage and where are my clothes?"

Clark frowns then. "Some really bad people took you but you don't have to worry because I'm here to save you."

Bruce looks around again. "What about the other kids? Are you going to save them too?"

He's not quite sure what to say to that. "I... will be later but first I need to get you out of here." He holds his arms open. "Do you trust me? Will you come with me?"

Bruce's smile is back and he crawls into his arms, snuggling close. "Of course, I trust you Superman."

Clark lifts him, trying to ignore the surreal feeling in his gut, and goes over to retrieve Batman's utility belt. Bruce would be pissed at him if he left it when he could easily take it with him. “Okay, so Bruce listen to me.” Bruce leans back to look at him from where he was leaning on him, arms around his neck. “When I leave this room, those bad people are going to try to stop me. Now I’m going to try and sneak out of here but I’m sure I’ll be caught either way. I need you to be quiet and if they start attacking, I want you to just shut your eyes okay?”

“Okay,” Bruce mumbles, nodding his head and then wrapping his arms around his neck again. This time, however, the kid stays facing forward.

Clark knows getting out is going to be difficult while holding a small child in his arms but he has no choice. “Here, hold this.” He hands Bruce the utility belt. “Don’t do anything with it; just hold it for me please.”

“This looks familiar...” Clark holds his breath, hoping some kind of memory of before his friend was de-aged is forming. “I know,” Bruce is whispering in order to not be too loud. “It’s Batman’s. Is he here too?”

Clark’s stomach sinks. “No, no he’s not.” Clark picks up Batman’s cape next and wraps it around the child’s naked figure. He then puts a finger to his mouth to indicate that Bruce should be quiet now. He opens the door with his free hand slowly, not recalling if the door squeaks or not. He peers out and looks around. The door opens into a long hallway with multiple doors on each side. It’s also empty. Clark finds it strange that they don’t have any security for the door but decides to not pay it much attention. He sneaks out going as quickly as he can while still being silent, down the hall. When he reaches the end, which opens into a large hangar room with many aircrafts in it, he stops. It’s strange though since it already looks like they are in an aircraft.

There are people out in the hangar, working on different aircrafts and consoles, some even working on making spells and casting them. There are a lot more than the five Superman and Batman fought earlier. He feels Bruce wiggle in his arms nervously and he presses a little closer to Clark. Clark listens to his heartbeat and hears it thumping fast in his chest. He presses his lips to his ear and whispers, “Don’t worry, it’s going to be okay.” The kid only buries his head in Clark’s neck but still looks forward. His heart doesn’t slow down.

Clark slips behind some boxes and stays on the outskirts of the hangar, watching the men work to make sure they don’t spot them. The last thing he needs or wants is for them to start shooting magic at them when he’s got kid Bruce in his arms. “Get Aircraft 7394 ready for deployment.” One of the mages commands over the ruckus that is going on in the room. Clark looks over to where the hangar doors open. He needs to get over there and then he can slip out when they open it to allow the aircraft out. He starts to make his way there, the hangar doors already opening and the aircraft already turning on in order to fly out, when he bumps into something and a loud clang echoes throughout the whole room. Twenty eyes turn to him and stare for a split second before one of them yells out, “Escapee!”

 _Shit!_ Clark dodges a beam of magic, holding Bruce in a tight grip. Bruce has closed his eyes like he was instructed and is shaking violently in his grasp. Clark has no choice but to make a run for it. He takes one step and feels a hot flash of pain in his back. He yells, falling to the ground and dropping Bruce, who also yells with the sudden drop. Clark groans in pain, eyes tightly shut. Everything around him is in chaos. He groans again with the effort to open his eyes and get up off the floor. There’s someone on top of him and he can hear Bruce screaming. His scream, that terrified, ear piercing scream, is what gives him the energy to get up and push whoever is on top of him off. Clark looks over to where Bruce is currently kicking and screaming at the two magicians that have a hold of him. Clark charges, allowing the rage to take over enough to push through the pain he is in and rip those filthy hands off his best friend.

Clark scoops up the scared and crying child into his arms and glares at the mages to the intensity that it almost feels like he’s going to use his heat vision. “Don’t you ever. Touch. Him. Again!” The magicians go to shoot some more magic at him but he flies out of the hangar doors before they get the chance.

He was right; they are already flying in an aircraft. Bruce gasps, flinging his arms around Clark’s neck once again, and promptly dropping Batman’s utility belt. Clark quickly retrieves it. He really doesn’t feel like having Batman try to kill him with Kryptonite because he let it plummet back to the planet and the belt becomes irretrievable. Clark looks behind him just in time to dodge a bullet that would have struck Bruce in the head. It would seem the magicians decided to follow him out. They’re flying in the aircrafts that he saw in the hangar. “Bruce,” the boy is still shaking and his face is buried in his neck, his tears causing his skin to be wet. “Listen to me; I need to take out those aircrafts.” He dodges another string of bullets. If he wasn’t holding a vulnerable Bruce, he would just have them hit him, but Bruce can die and he’s not about to let that happen. “I need my hands in order to do that.” He starts to fly a little faster, as fast as he safely can with a human in his arms, due to the aircrafts starting to catch up to him. _Damn, they’re fast._ “I need you to hold onto my neck as tightly as you can, don’t let go, you understand?”

“No!” The voice is a shriek of panic and the boy in his arms starts to hyperventilate. “Don’t let go!”

“I have to.” He squeezes. “I won’t let you fall, I promise.”

“Don’t let go,” the boy cries.

“Listen Bruce, I’m sorry but I don’t have a choice.” He presses a kiss to the side of Bruce’s head, just above his temple, in a comforting gesture. “I promise on my life _I will not_ let you fall. Do you trust me?” Bruce takes a moment but after a little while nods. “Good, now I need you to hold the belt again.” Bruce takes it blindly, flailing to get his arm around his neck again, face still buried in his neck. “Now hold on tightly.”

Clark let’s go and feels Bruce tighten his grip around him and jabbing his feet into his side in order to get some leverage. Once Clark is sure he won’t fall he turns around and starts to fly back toward the aircrafts that are after him. He takes the first one out easily, watching as the mage parachutes down to the ground. When he faces the second one, he’s bombarded with a ray of bullets. He tries to dodge all of them but one hits his shoulder and Clark has to take a quick second to make sure none had hit Bruce. The magician keeps shooting at him until he’s out of bullets and then decides to ram the aircraft into Clark, which is actually pretty stupid. When he’s close enough, Clark punches the machinery with all the pent up anger he feels behind it and the machine crumples, falling in a heap of smoke, while the pilot also parachuted down.

Clark smiles in triumph and then focuses his attention on Bruce. “I don’t-” The poor kid is hyperventilating badly. “I don’t... I don’t... want to... do this... anymore.”

His tears are still falling, Clark can feel them against his neck, and he cups the back of Bruce’s head, wrapping his arms around him. Bruce’s grasp loosens slightly but it’s still tight with fear. Clark looks behind him and sees more magicians coming in the distance. “Don’t worry Bruce, we’re done.” He flies a little away before deciding to touch down and comfort the kid in his arms. He hasn’t calmed down yet and Clark is beginning to worry about his breathing. He lands and let’s go of the child who then refuses to let go of his neck, eyes shut so tightly that it almost looks like it hurts. “Bruce,” Clark tries to pry his arms from around him. “Bruce, it’s okay, you’re safe now.” Bruce shakes his head against his neck. Not seeing this changing anytime soon, he sits down, gathering the child into his lap and setting him down there. He holds Bruce close, petting his hair and trying to calm him. “Shh, it’s okay. Nothing is going to happen to you. Everything’s alright. I’m here, I’ll protect you.” He kisses the top of his head. “I won’t ever let anything happen to you, I promise.” It takes another ten minutes before the kid stops crying and relax in Clark’s hold. Bruce’s arms fall to his side. “You okay?” Bruce nods. “I’m sorry I scared you.”

Bruce rubs his face against the ‘S’ on his uniform. His eyes are all red and puffy and so are his cheeks. His hair is all windswept and Clark is glad he decided to wrap him in Batman’s cape as that protected his body from the debris and wind. “You didn’t scare me,” he whispers and Clark smiles.

“And you know what?” Bruce looks up at him. “You were such a good boy and brave, you even managed to hold onto the belt.”

Bruce looks down at it then, puzzling over it. The look on his face reminds Clark of adult Bruce. “But I dropped it.”

Clark shrugs. “That’s okay. You managed to hold right onto it throughout everything else. Even when I needed you to be extra brave and hold onto me without my help.”

A small smile plays on his face and again Clark is reminded of adult Bruce. “Will I meet Batman?”

Clark’s own smile softens. “I... I don’t know. He’s a really busy guy so he might not have time.” Bruce frowns. “I’m sure he would love to meet you but you see he has to make sure to protect other people and be a hero.”

“Like you protected me?” Bruce finally perks up.

“Yep, just like I protected you.” Clark loves that happy look this kid Bruce does. It’s not something he sees very often when it comes to adult Bruce.

Bruce shrugs. “I wouldn’t want to distract him from saving people.” Clark beams. “I got to meet you though.” Bruce’s arms are back around him except this time as a hug.

Clark hugs him back, glancing up at the sky and seeing more magicians flying overhead. “We better get going. Let’s walk for a bit though. Do you want to walk or do you want me to carry you?”

Bruce tightens his hug and says enthusiastically, “Carry!”

…

“Are you sure those kids are going to be okay?” Bruce asks after they’ve been walking for at least an hour. Bruce is being held securely against Clark’s hip, one arm under him to support him and Bruce’s arm around Clark’s shoulders. Bruce’s other arm is against his small chest, still holding onto the utility belt.

“You don’t need to worry about them. I’ll be able to get them later,” Clark answers.

“But, Superman, what if the bad people do something to them?” There’s alarm in Bruce’s voice and Clark honestly has no idea how to calm the child.

Clark takes a second to come up with an answer but really can’t think of a good one. “I don’t think they will.”

Bruce squirms, pressing himself further into Clark’s side. “But they hurt me didn’t they?”

“Yes but...” What is he supposed to say? That you used to be an adult who was the greatest detective in the world and a martial arts master but now you’re a four or five year old that wouldn’t be able to do any detective work or martial arts to save your life? Yeah, he doesn’t think so either. “How old are you, Bruce?”

“Four, don’t change the subject.” Clark really wishes that adult Bruce would stop leaking through to child Bruce. It would make the change and acceptation of the situation a lot easier.

Clark sighs. “I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet but I’m not going to leave them there forever either.” Bruce stays silent then, probably going over what he said in a brain that is too smart for the child’s age. Clark continues to carry Bruce all the way back to the Javelin, only taking one break in order to allow the child to go to the bathroom. The rest of the way after that is spent in silence.

When Clark reaches the Javelin, there are three magic users. Two are standing guard around it, and the third is coming out of it, walking slowly down the ramp. “There’s nothing in there of use and the two escapees aren’t there either.”

“We need to find them. We can’t let word out about our operation,” one of them says.

“What are they doing?” Bruce asks, whispering in his ear.

Clark keeps watching them, crouched in the bushes. “Shh.” Clark backs up slowly and crouch walks behind a tree. Setting Bruce down, wrapping the black cape around him a little better, he says, “Stay here and be very quiet, okay?”

Bruce’s eyes widen. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to go take care of those guys,” Clark answers, peering out from behind the tree to peek at the men.

Bruce clutches the utility belt close to his chest; grip so tight his knuckles are white. “I don’t want you to leave me.”

“It’s going to be okay,” Clark reassures. “I won’t be gone long. I’ll be coming back.” Bruce nods and sits down with his legs drawn close to him. “Now be as quiet as you can but if one of them finds you, you scream you understand?” Another nod. “Don’t come out for anything, no matter what you hear.”

“Okay,” Bruce says lowly, resting his head on his knees.

Clark gives Bruce one last once over and then leaves. He goes back to where he was hiding in the bush to assess the situation. The three are talking to each other and trying to come up with a plan on how to recapture the two of them. Clark really doesn’t care if they get him again, but he doesn’t want them to get Bruce again. Of course, with how young they made Bruce, technically Bruce needs Clark so he really can’t afford to be captured again either. Since Clark isn’t a strategist and the one that is can’t do anything of the sort at the moment, Clark decides to do what he does best: charge in.

He flies to one of them, knocking into him before he even knew what was happening, and punching him hard enough to knock him out. If Clark indulged in breaking his nose purposely in the process, well that would be his little secret. He dodges an attack of magic and flies to another one, knocking him out just as easily as the first. These three aren’t as strong as the ones he and Bruce fought earlier. He stumbles a little when a blast of magic hits his side but as he expected, it’s not nearly as strong as the others. He wonders if they are just in training or if they just aren’t as skilled period. Either way, he has no trouble taking out the last man.

Clark piles the men up to the side and is about to go get Bruce when a thought pops into his head. “Bruce, it’s okay to come out now,” he calls. He x-rays the spot Bruce is supposed to be hiding and sees the boy make no move to come out. “Bruce, I’ve taken care of all of them, it’s safe, and you can come over.” Still the boy doesn’t move. Smiling, Clark goes to the child and crouches in front of him. “You didn’t come when I called.”

Bruce smiles. “You said not to leave no matter what I heard. They could have been making you say all that.”

Clark smiles warmly at the kid. “Good.” He picks him up and carries him into the Javelin and then settles him down in a seat just behind the pilot’s seat, buckling him in. Taking his place in the pilot seat and buckling in himself, he turns around to look at Bruce. “As soon as I get in the sky, they are going to spot me and try to stop me. I don’t want you to worry though; I’ll make sure we don’t get caught.”

Bruce nods. “Okay.”

Clark starts the Javelin up. “Here we go.” He lifts the Javelin into the air and begins to fly up and off the planet. As he suspected though, it doesn’t take the mages long to spot them. They begin to fire on them and gain on them fast. Luckily, Bruce made the Javelin pretty fast as well and so the magicians have a hard time keeping up. Instead, they opt to try and shoot them out of the sky. Clark doesn’t want to risk the Javelin getting hit and going down, not with Bruce on board, so he decides defense is the way to go. He presses a button to put up the shields and just in time too. The Javelin gives a violent jerk as a bullet hits the shield. “You okay?” He sees Bruce nod. Satisfied, he concentrates on getting away from them. He doesn’t know if their aircrafts are equipped to go out of an atmosphere. If they aren’t, then they’ll need to retreat and follow with their bigger aircraft which will give Clark enough time to get away. If they are, then Clark is going to have to start thinking about going on the offense despite having Bruce with him. If worse comes to worse, then Superman will have to protect the boy.

He continues pulling up, praying that they will back off. He keeps one eye on where he is flying and one eye on the screen that is beeping at him that there are three pursuers coming after him. The higher they get, the more he begins to relax. Rao, or whatever other god, must be listening to him because one by one, the dots disappear from the radar. Before testing his luck, Clark produces the wormhole that will carry them halfway across the Universe and back to Earth’s sector. When he does, he hears a small “wow” from Bruce and smiles to himself. Who knew Bruce would be such a cute little kid?

Once the Javelin gets through the wormhole and into their sector all that is left is an easy ride. “Superman?” Clark looks to Bruce. “Do you want this back?” Bruce holds the utility belt up.

“You can hold onto it for now if you want,” he says and Bruce brings the utility belt back to himself. Clark looks at him and for a minute or two; the two of them have almost like a starring contest. Then Clark looks out the windshield and comes up with something. Looking back at the small kid who is now looking at the utility belt just as intensely as before, he says, “Bruce?” Bruce looks up. “Two things, you can call me Clark.” Bruce smiles and tries out his name softly. Seeming satisfied, he waits for Clark to continue. “Second, you want to come see?” Clark watches as an excited smile beams on Bruce’s small face and the child nods vigorously.

Clark unbuckles and then goes to retrieve the small child. He unbuckles Bruce, lifts him up, and then brings him to the front to sit on Clark’s lap. Bruce looks out the windshield and continues to smile. “There’s so many stars!”

“Yeah there are.” Clark wraps his arms around his small frame protectively. “Did you know there are multiple color stars? There are yellow ones, like ours, and then there are blue ones and red ones, there are even white and brown ones. All the different colors means the star is in a different lifespan or burning hotter than others. Like blue stars, they are a lot hotter than our yellow sun but eventually our sun will become a red sun because of how old it will be. Then, after it dies, it turns into a white sun or what they really are called, white dwarfs.”

“Then what are brown stars?” Bruce looks at him with wonder.

“Well,” he begins. “Brown stars are stars that didn’t quite have enough energy or heat to create fusion so they couldn’t burn.” Clark chuckles at Bruce’s confused look. “They can’t make the fire that most suns have,” he simplifies.

“Red suns weaken you don’t they?” Clark nods. “So when our sun turns to a red sun, won’t it weaken you?”

“Probably, but it won’t turn to red for about another five billion years.” Clark rubs his fingers through Bruce’s now dirty hair.

Bruce rests the side of his face against Clark’s ‘S’, looking tired. “That’s a long time.”

Clark looks out the windshield, seeing the Watchtower in the distance. He then looks at the yellow ball in the sky and feels a pang of sadness in his chest. “Yeah... yeah it is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Updates will be every Friday. Next update scheduled for: 11/13/15 EST. To see a full list of dates, please go [here](http://angelcamael.tumblr.com/post/132217933841/loss-of-time).


	3. Chapter 3

Bruce is sleeping by the time they reach the Watchtower. Clark calls in his code and the hangar doors open for the Javelin. He lands it like the other thousands of times he’s done it except this time it feels weird since he has a child sized Batman in his lap. He hasn't even bothered to call ahead to the others to warn them since he's not quite ready to explain what happened. Clark must sit in the Javelin for quite awhile though because eventually a call comes over the comm.

"Superman, are you alright?" It's Diana and he's kind of glad that it is her instead of any of the others. He briefly explains what is going on, not getting too into detail of how exactly it happened yet, and just telling her that Bruce has been de-aged and that he doesn't remember anything before that. "Alright Kal, I'll inform the others."

Sighing, he finally shakes the kid in his lap awake. "Hey, buddy, I need you to wake up."

Bruce slowly opens his eyes and then looks around. "Where are we?"

"We are at the Justice League's headquarters," Clark answers. "You're going to meet the rest of the Justice League."

The boy's eyes light up. "Really, like the Flash and Hawkgirl and- and maybe even Batman will be here?"

Clark chuckles at Bruce’s enthusiasm. "Yep, you'll be meeting everyone except probably Batman."

"Because he's off saving the day?" Bruce asks.

Clark gets up, taking the small child with him. "Yeah, he's currently saving the day as we speak." He doesn't like lying but at the moment it's a necessity. "Now, the others in the League might be a little... shocked to see you since they aren't expecting me to come back with a child but you don't have to worry about that okay? I'm sure they'll warm up to you pretty fast." Bruce nods in understanding. "I'm also going to have to talk to them for a little bit without you."

"Are you going to leave me?" Clark senses the panic in Bruce's voice.

Clark smiles reassuringly. "No, of course, I won't leave you."

Bruce hugs him tightly. "Okay." He then looks into Clark's eyes as they exit the Javelin. "Will I be able to know their real names like I know yours?"

Clark begins to float to Batman’s quarters in order to put the utility belt there and then to where he and Diana agreed to meet the others. "That's up to them. You'll have to ask and if you ask nicely, maybe they'll tell you."

"I'll ask extra nicely!" Bruce exclaims and Clark chuckles at Bruce's restored energy. Plus, it's amusing to Clark to think about Batman being extra nice.

When he reaches the room the League will be meeting him in, he can tell that everyone is already there with his super hearing. Taking a deep breath, he steps in. He can hear every single intake of breath. There's an excited one from Bruce, a shocked one from Shayera and John, an amused one from Wally, and a curious one from Diana and J'onn. Clark sighs again and really hopes Wally was listening when Diana told them not to say anything about him being a miniaturized Batman. "Bruce, this is the League" He points at all of them. "There's Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Hawkgirl, and Martian Manhunter."

Bruce grows shy all of a sudden, which takes Clark by surprise, and buries his face in his neck. "Hello," he says quietly.

"Hello little guy, I'm Wally." Flash takes a step forward but doesn't get too close either. He takes off his cowl.

"Wally?" Bruce peers out from Clark's neck slightly.

Wally nods. "Yep, and you can call me that too, if you want."

After Wally's initial introduction, the rest of the League seem to get their nerve up to speak as well. One by one, they each tell little Bruce their real name. When J'onn finishes, Bruce turns to him. "I didn't even have to ask for their names."

Clark squeezes him. "That means they trust you." Clark looks over to the others who are staring at him with confused and questioning looks. “Listen Bruce; remember when I told you I need to talk to these guys without you?”

“That’s now?” Bruce asks.

Clark nods. “Yeah, that’s now.” He turns to Wally. “Wally, do you think you could find some clothes for him real quick? I’m sure... I’m sure Batman has some for all ages around here somewhere.”

“I’m four!” Bruce bounces a little in his arms and Clark has to hold onto him tighter in order for him not to fall.

“No problem, I’m on it.” He speeds off and he’s gone for maybe one minute before he comes back. “I found these in the medical bay.” Flash holds up a pair of grey sweatpants, a white t-shirt, and a pair of white sneakers, each in children size.

“Those will do.” Clark takes them, sets Bruce down, and then helps the child put them on. When Bruce is all dressed he says, “Okay, Bruce, why don’t you go over there and play.” He shoots John a quick look who understands quickly and creates a bunch of toys with his ring.

“You’ll stay here?” Bruce asks.

Clark smiles at him and messes up his hair. “Yeah, I’ll be right here.”

“Promise you won’t leave?” The child looks worried and Clark should probably be concerned about Bruce’s attachment to him, but he figures that he’s not only not going to be in this form for long, but this is also adult Bruce just smaller and less mature. There’s no reason to have any misgivings about it.

“I promise.” Clark stands then and watches as Bruce hesitantly walks up to the green toys, looking back at him every so often. Clark just smiles at him encouragingly. Once the kid reaches the toys and starts to look them over with apprehension, he turns back to his friends.

Wally is the first to voice what everyone else is wondering. “What the hell happened?”

Clark tries really hard to stamp out his anger but some still leaks through. “What happened is that we were sent to some unknown planet to fight some unknown group of magicians when we didn’t know anything about them or how strong they were and especially, _especially_ , when I’m weak against magic.” He throws a pointed look towards the speedster for good measure. Wally understands what he is getting at and looks down guiltily. Clark pinches the bridge of his nose. There’s no reason to start throwing blame, after all, he is partially at fault since he went along with Wally’s advice. Sighing, he continues. “The magicians turned out to be a lot stronger than Batman and I anticipated and we ended up getting captured. Apparently, when they take hostages or kidnap people, they turn them into children in order to raise them as their own. One of the mages was holding a grudge against Batman because of what Batman did to him when we fought and decided it was a good idea to turn him into a four year old for them to raise. I don’t think they took into account that I would save him after they de-aged him. We just barely escaped, probably traumatizing a four year old Bruce Wayne while we were at it, and just barely got off the planet with the Javelin.”

“That’s horrible,” Diana says.

Clark nods, remembering what happened. “They’re probably going to show up again. They were pretty adamant about getting us back and keeping their ‘operation’ a secret.”

Shayera speaks then. “I’ll make sure to keep the Watchtower on high alert.”

Clark nods his thanks and then continues. “That brings me to the next thing I want to talk about. I was hoping we could contact either-”

“Clark?” Clark turns to look at Bruce, who is standing in the middle of green toys. He looks suspicious and really, could he be any more like adult Bruce?

Clark walks up to him and crouches down to his level. “It’s okay, see?” He picks up one of the toys John manifested and shows it to the child. It’s a miniature version of the Javelin. “They’re safe to play with.”

Bruce eyes the toy, continuing to be suspicious and playing with the end of his shirt. “Is that the plane we flew in?”

Clark turns it around in his hand. “Yeah it is. Want to play with it?” He holds it out but Bruce doesn’t take it. “I promise all these are fine. Green Lantern made them with his ring. You know how his ring works?” Bruce nods. “Then you know he won’t hurt you.”

“Okay.” Bruce hesitantly reaches out and takes the small replica of the Javelin.

“There, see? Nothing bad happened.” Clark smiles at Bruce’s scrunched eyebrows. “Now, I’m going to go finish my conversation. I won’t be much longer.” Clark gets up and goes back to the group.

“He seems to have taken a liking to you,” J’onn mentions.

“Yeah, and you’re good with him,” John points out.

Clark flushes red. “Well, we have technically known each other for a long time and we’re best friends.” When he looks to Diana, she has a knowing smile on her face but what she could possibly know is beyond Clark. “Anyways, I was hoping we could contact Zatanna or Dr. Fate to try and turn him back to... you know, Bruce, uh adult Bruce that is.”

“I will get on that right away.” J’onn dissolves through the floor, disappearing from sight.

“Do you think it’s okay to go play with him?” Wally motions to Bruce with his chin. “He’s still looking kind of apprehensive of your ring toys GL. Maybe some encouragement will help?”

Clark looks between everyone and can tell they all want a piece of cute, passive Bruce, especially since this is a rare opportunity since they can’t have adult Bruce in this mood and mindset. To be honest though, as much as Clark thinks child Bruce is cute and it’s nice to see this side of him, he really, really misses his friend slash crush and adult Bruce’s personality. Clark wonders if he’s the only one who feels this way. “Sure, go right ahead as long as he wants to.”

Both Wally and Shayera go up to the boy who has a moment of panic, searching out Clark’s eyes, but quickly relaxing again when Clark just smiles at him. “It’s weird, seeing him like this,” John says, stepping up to him.

“It’s not a side of Bruce you get to see every day,” Diana adds.

“Or ever.” John then goes up to the boy as well to join Shayera and Wally in the game that they are playing, quickly making his ring form a suit of armor around Bruce’s body in which the kid laughs at.

Diana stands next to him and watches with her arms crossed. They watch for quite awhile in silence before she speaks up. “You miss the real him don’t you?”

Clark huffs in amusement. “You always did know me and him really well.”

She then places a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry Kal, we’ll change him back.” She, too, then joins the others.

Clark decides to stand there still, just watching the whole of the Justice League minus J’onn having fun with Bruce. John is right, this isn’t something you would ever see with adult Bruce, at least if you were as close to him as John and Wally and even Diana were to him. But Clark, Clark gets to see a different side of him every time Bruce comes to the _Daily Planet_ , or Clark goes to one of his fundraisers, or Superman goes to the Bat-Cave, or his personal favorite, when Clark goes to visit Bruce and the family at the Manor. That’s his favorite side of Bruce and it’s only something the bat-family and him have the privilege to see. He would miss that terribly if he ever had to give it up permanently.

“Clark!” Clark snaps out of his thoughts at Bruce’s laugh, the boy calling to him. “Come play with us.” Clark pushes his feelings and nostalgia aside for now. He smiles and walks over to join the fun.

…

"Kal-El," J'onn gets his attention and he quickly tells the others that he will be right back. Diana follows him over to the Martian and stands next to him as J'onn begins to explain things. "Zatanna won't be available to help for at least a few days and once she is, she's not sure how long it'll take to find or come up with a spell to turn Batman back."

Clark's heart sinks. "What about Dr. Fate?"

J'onn shakes his head. "He'll take even longer."

Clark bows his head in dismay. "Shoot." Clark looks behind him and at the kid that is obviously starting to tire out but still playing. "What are we supposed to do then?"

Diana shrugs. "Wait I guess."

A heaviness forms in Clark's chest and he heaves a big sigh. "This is just perfect. Who's going to take care of him in the meantime? We can’t have Alfred take care of him because Bruce's family will never let him live it down if they find out. You know he'll get mad about that and then in turn get mad at all of us, _mostly me_." Diana and J'onn stare at him. "What?"

"You are the best with him and he is most comfortable around you," Diana says.

J'onn adds, "I can also sense that he would rather go with you, Kal."

Clark throws his hands up in front of him, palms facing outward. "I can't take care of him. I have a full time job as Clark Kent and Superman. I can't very well bring him to work with me. What if Perry sends me off or Lois drags me someplace if I do bring him or I have to go fight something as Superman? I can't bring him into a fight, not again." Diana opens her mouth to say something but Clark doesn't let her get anything out. "And he certainly isn't going to be left with a babysitter. Oh gosh, and what am I going to tell people when they see him? I can't tell them he's my kid because they'll be awfully confused on when and how and... and, darn it, they probably won't believe me even if I do tell them he's not my kid because he almost looks _just like me_ , with the black hair and blue eyes and... Oh gosh, I can't look after him. Are you two crazy? Is this a dream? Can I wake up now?"

"Kal," Diana places her hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "It'll be okay, all you have to say is that he is a cousin from across the country that you don't see very often and you are looking after him while his parents are on vacation or something."

Clark scowls. "Yeah thanks Diana, that still doesn't help my job situation."

"I think if you explain things to Perry he will understand and not send you out into dangerous situations and if need be, I can convince him," J'onn inputs. "As for Superman, the rest of the League can handle things for now and if we need your help we will, as the humans say, cross that bridge when we get to it."

Clark then throws his hands up again, this time in exasperation. "Great, just perfect." Diana smiles at him in sympathy though it looks more like amusement to Clark and J'onn is straight faced as always. "I hate magic."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Updates will be every Friday. Next update scheduled for: 11/20/15 EST. To see a full list of dates, please go [here](http://angelcamael.tumblr.com/post/132217933841/loss-of-time).


	4. Chapter 4

When they beam down from the Watchtower to Earth in Metropolis, the first thing Clark does after changing into his civilian clothes, is go to a store to buy kid stuff. He has to work off of a journalist salary that was never saved up for children, but he should be fine. He also has to carry a very tired Bruce instead of having him walk but he doesn't really mind that. The kid is almost fully asleep when he reaches the store and has to wake up the poor child again in order to place and buckle him into the cart seat. He then makes a beeline towards the kid’s clothes first.

He picks up two pairs of jeans, five pairs of t-shirts, a sweater just in case even though it is summer, and some socks and underwear. If two of the five shirts have the Batman symbol and the other the Superman symbol on it, well that's just coincidence.

He's looking at pajamas when a sleepy voice says, "I want that one."

Clark looks to where the boy is pointing and sees a pair of Superman pajamas. "You sure?"

Bruce nods. "Yeah because Superman is awesome!" Clark smiles, feeling his heart swell. _Did adult Bruce have this much admiration towards him?_ Clark doubts it and chalks it up to a four year old mind, but it's a nice thought nonetheless. "Can I also have the Batman one? Please?"

Clark picks it up and ruffles Bruce's hair. "Sure, why not?" Bruce smiles wide. After picking up a pair of sneakers, Clark heads to the toys, figuring he should get him something at least. He puts some coloring books and crayons in the cart and then continues down the aisle. "See anything you like?"

As expected, Bruce scowls and shies away from the toy guns. Clark is glad about that since he wouldn’t want child Bruce to play with such things anyways. It's not until they reach the stuffed animal aisle that Bruce finally speaks up. "That, I want that!"

Clark looks and can't hold back his smile. Bruce is pointing and leaning over the side of the cart to try and reach a stuffed bat. The face has yellow eyes and stitched on fangs.

“You want a bat?” Clark confirms and when Bruce nods his head enthusiastically, he chuckles and puts it in the cart. “Anything else? Last chance.”

“Um...” Bruce rubs at his chin as he looks around. Then his eyes light up. “Can I get that too?” He’s pointing at a small Superman plushie. “And maybe that one too.” Next, he points to a Batman plushie. “Because you can’t have Superman without Batman!” Bruce’s smile is wide when Clark places the two in the cart, right next to the bat. “Thank you Clark.”

Clark chuckles again. “You’re going to have an awful lot of Batman and Superman stuff.”

“That’s because both are so awesome.” Bruce looks up to him as he pushes the cart in the direction of the food. He’s going to have to get more if he’s going to be feeding two people. Not that Clark really needs to eat but he believes it’ll help Bruce adjust better plus, he just really likes the taste of food. “But I like Superman better.”

“Awe, now you’re just trying to flatter me,” Clark says.

“No,” Bruce laughs. “I’m telling the truth. Superman is so much better than Batman. He can fly and he has a colorful suit and he’s super nice. He even saves cats from trees. I like cats.” Clark shakes his head in amusement at the cliché of Superman saving cats. “I actually like pretty much all animals but cats and dogs and bats are pretty cool.”

“See,” Clark grabs a box of cereal. “You should like Batman better then.”

Bruce shrugs. “Batman is smart and mysterious and-and, well I don’t know the word, it’s like being pulled to the person.”

“Alluring, maybe?” Clark fills in absentmindedly.

“What does that mean?” Bruce asks.

Clark blushes. “Attractive or tempting.”

“Yeah that,” Bruce agrees. “So is Superman but since Batman is so dark it makes him even more alluring. They’re both super awesome.”

“But what makes you like Superman more than Batman?” Clark asks, stopping in the bread aisle. _Is the bread I have still good or is it past it’s date?_ _Ah, better to just get another one just in case._

Bruce shrugs again. “I don’t know, it’s just a feeling.” Clark puts a loaf of bread into the cart. “Maybe it’s because I’ve met you and haven’t met Batman?”

“Maybe.” Clark still wonders, however, why a four year old Bruce would like Superman so much more than his adult self’s Batman. Shouldn’t he have some kind of subconscious connection to Batman? Surely Bruce doesn’t think so little of himself and so highly of Superman? “I think this is about it,” he says once he puts the last of the food in the cart. Tonight he’ll be making spaghetti since it’s quick and easy. When he’s all checked out, he reaches a dilemma. He forgot that he had to either carry Bruce or have him walk beside him while holding his hand and now he has too many bags to carry to do either. Bruce is carrying the bag with his stuffed toys in it but Clark is carrying the rest which is, quite honestly, a lot. It should also be pretty heavy for any other person, probably too heavy to even carry, but not for Clark. “Bruce?” The boy looks up at him from peering inside the bag. “I need you to stick close to me okay? Don’t go wondering off or anything like that; stay where I can see you.”

“Okay.” He smiles and then they’re off. Clark keeps an eye open for any people that would want to try and kidnap the child but he’s more worried about something catching the eye of the four year old and the boy running off or worse, into the road. He tells Bruce where to turn and to stop when they need to cross the road and even has to turn down a woman who offers her help in holding Bruce’s hand. With magicians trying to get them, he really doesn’t want to take the chance of anyone being one of them. “This your house?” Bruce tilts his head up at the apartment building, in awe at how tall it is.

Clark laughs. “Not exactly. My house is inside this building. It’s called an apartment and you pay someone else in order to live in it.”

“You have a house inside this building?” He seems to be in even more awe which is funny to Clark since Bruce is the one who owns the building.

Walking into the building and to the elevator, Clark answers, “Well, it’s single floor with a bedroom, bathroom, and the kitchen and dining room and the living room are all connected in one big room. The kitchen is separated by some counter tops that have stools so you can eat there or you can eat at the dining room table which is just off to the side of the living room. Really, Bruce, it’s nothing much. It certainly isn’t like your ho-” Clark stops himself abruptly.

“My what?” Bruce questions and Clark has to think of something to say. He opens the door to his apartment and is relieved when the child is distracted from what Clark said. Bruce looks around the room. They walk right into the big room that houses his kitchen, dining room, and living room. Going to the counter, Clark places the bags down. “This is the counter you were talking about?”

“Yep.” Clark leans down and lifts Bruce so he can sit on one of the stools in order to watch him put things away. When he moves onto the clothes, he guides Bruce into his bedroom. “You’ll be sleeping on that bed.” Bruce tries to get up on top of it but fails miserably. Clark helps him up. “I’ll be sleeping on the couch out in the living room,” he says as he places Bruce’s clothes in a now empty drawer. He moves his clothes that used to be in that drawer to his closet, up on a shelf.

“Out in the living room?” Bruce confirms.

“Yeah.” Clark turns and sits on the bed next to him. Bruce has set out his Superman, Batman, and bat stuffed toys on one of the pillows. “It’s not too far away, just out that door and down the hall a little.”

Bruce looks around the room. “And I’ll be in here alone?”

Clark studies his worried look. “You don’t need to worry. I’ll never let anything get to you or hurt you.”

Bruce lunges and hugs him, pressing close and burying his face in Clark’s chest. “I know.”

Clark hugs him back then gets up. “Why don’t you get comfortable while I make supper. This is going to be your home for awhile now so I want you to feel safe here.” Clark then leaves, leaving the kid on the bed to his own devises. He quickly places the crayons and coloring books on the coffee table before going to the kitchen to start boiling water. By the time he’s done making the spaghetti, tomato sauce and Parmesan grated cheese included, Bruce hasn’t left the room. “Bruce?” Clark calls out, a little worried. Maybe he shouldn’t have left the kid by himself and out of his sight. That thought quickly leaves his head when he walks into the bedroom, however.

There, lying on top of the covers and holding all three of his stuffed toys tightly, is a sleeping Bruce. He looks like he’s been sleeping for awhile so Clark guesses he must have fallen asleep just after Clark left the room. Gently and carefully, Clark picks Bruce up in order to tuck him in under the covers. He then leans down and pecks the top of his head, saying a quiet goodnight. Clark leaves the door open when he leaves, mostly so if Bruce wakes up he’s not frightened. After a few days he’ll try closing the door halfway until eventually he can just leave it open a crack.

Clark puts some plastic wrap on top of Bruce’s spaghetti and then places it in the refrigerator. He then goes to his couch, turns the TV on and turns the volume down as to not wake the child in the other room, and begins to eat his own spaghetti. It’s probably not a good idea to have Bruce skip supper but the poor kid has been pretty tired for a long time now and kept being woken up when he is asleep. This time, Clark won’t do such a thing and allow Bruce to get some rest.

It’s not long until Clark has cleaned his plate, shut the TV off, and went to sleep himself on the couch. He dreams of magic and fighting and Bruce saving him and him saving Bruce. This time in the fight, they’re successful.

…

“Clark?” Clark slowly opens his eyes and sees blue ones in front of his face.

“Bruce? What is it?” He sits up and rubs at his eyes. “What time is it?” He looks at the clock. “It’s one in the morning. What’s wrong, are you okay?” His alarm level rises.

Bruce sniffles. “I had a bad dream.”

That’s when Clark gets a good look at Bruce. There’s tears glistening down his cheeks and he’s clutching onto his bat plushie for dear life. He’s also in his clothes still but so is Clark. Clark silently sighs. “Okay, come on.” He walks Bruce back to the room and then digs through the drawer to get him some pajamas. He decides on the Superman pajamas and _not_ because he’s being bias at all. “Here, put these on.” He then takes out his own pajamas and uses his super speed to put them on. When Bruce is done getting dress, he wipes the child’s face off with his hands, gets a tissue so Bruce can blow his nose, and then helps him back onto the bed. He tucks him back in again and then sits on the edge of the mattress. Clark’s not really sure what you’re supposed to do when a kid has a bad dream but he’s pretty sure you don’t just put them back to bed and then leave immediately. “What’s your bat’s name?”

“Ace,” Bruce says lowly.

Clark should have known. “That’s a nice name. How did you come up with it?”

Bruce shrugs. “I don’t know. I just thought of it.”

“Well I like it.” Clark smiles. “Do you want to tell me what the bad dream was about?” Bruce shrugs again. “You don’t have to, that’s fine.” He sits there for a moment longer before finally standing. “Okay, I’m going to go back to sleep now. You have to also but you don’t need to worry remember? It was just a bad dream. Whatever it was can’t hurt you here.” Clark smiles reassuringly. “If you need anything else though or you have another bad dream you can come get me again. I won’t be mad.” Clark brushes Bruce hair back and then starts to walk away.

“Clark?” Clark stops and turns around. Bruce is sitting up. “I don’t want to be alone.”

One thing about nightmares that Clark does know about is that parents, when their child has a bad dream, will either get into the bed with them or allow the child into their own bed. Clark’s not really sure if he should do that because he’s not Bruce’s parent, but seeing that look on Bruce’s face makes up his mind. “Okay, I won’t go.” He walks over to the other side of the bed and then gets in. He stays sitting up and beckons the child over who crawls closer him. Bruce is staring at his little stuffed bat, Batman and Superman over on the other side of the bed, the side Bruce just left in favor of cuddling up next to Clark, pulling at the bat’s ear slightly.

Clark hugs him one last time before he makes to lie down. Before he can, however, Bruce nestles into his arms and starts to talk again. “I was with these two people, except I was older than I am now and the two people I was with were like you.” He looks up at Clark with sparkling blue eyes. “They were really tall even though I was older.” Clark figures he’s talking about his bad dream.

“And what were you doing with them?” Clark prompts, trying to get him back on track.

“We were watching a movie in this building. When we left the building the two people had us walk between these two buildings.” Clark’s stomach sinks and a lump forms in his throat. He knows where this going. “It was dark but one of the old people said it was a shortcut.”

He can see tears already forming in Bruce’s eyes. “You know what Bruce, you don’t need to tell me. I can see how it’s upsetting you so you don’t have to think about it anymore.”

“It felt real.” Clark doesn’t have the heart to tell him that it was real, that something like that really did happen, so he stays quiet. “Clark?” Clark looks down and Bruce is staring at him. “Where are my parents?” He certainly wasn’t expecting that question and he can’t think of what to say quick enough. “Are they at that place you rescued me from? And why can’t I remember anything before that?”

“I-” Clark stumbles over his words. “Those... remember I told you those people took you? Well those same people really hurt you, Bruce. That’s why you can’t remember. The way they hurt you made you forget.” Clark figures it’s not a total lie.

“And my parents?” His blue eyes are hopeful.

“I... don’t know if they are,” Clark says, expecting disappointment to form on little Bruce’s face but it doesn’t.

“Can we go back and check?” He pulls away and sits with his legs underneath him. “Can we Clark? Can we go save them?”

“Bruce,” he really hates himself right now. “We can’t, you remember that plane ride to get back here, back to Earth? Where we were is a long way away from here. We can’t just-”

Bruce cuts him off. “Why not?” Tears are starting to pool in his eyes. “I want my mommy and daddy.” The tears slip out and that seems to be the trigger for Bruce to start crying whole heartedly.

Clark pulls him in again. “I know, but... I’m sorry, I don’t think... I don’t think your parents are around anymore.” The sobbing kid in his arms only starts to cry more with those words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Updates will be every Friday. Next update scheduled for: 11/27/15 EST. To see a full list of dates, please go [here](http://angelcamael.tumblr.com/post/132217933841/loss-of-time).


	5. Chapter 5

In the morning, Clark has to pry himself out of the four year old’s grasp without waking him. He has work today and still needs to call J’onn to come and deal with Perry since Clark thinks that will just be easier than timid Clark Kent trying to convince Perry not to let him out on any dangerous cases. Going to his dresser and picking out some clothes to wear, Clark heads for his bathroom and takes a shower. Afterward, he decides to call J’onn and then he’ll wake up Bruce.

Activating the com-link, Clark patches through to J’onn. “J’onn?”

“Yes, Kal-El?” the Martian responds.

“I was wondering if you can spare a few minutes to help me with my boss issue,” Clark explains as he digs out the pancake mix he bought yesterday. “I think it’ll be easier if you just convince him to keep me off any dangerous leads than me trying to do it.”

There’s a pause, as if J’onn is thinking about it, but then he says, “Yes, I can spare a few minutes. What time should I be at the _Daily Planet_?”

“Does nine sound good to you?” Clark asks. “That’s when I start work and should be getting there as well if everything works out.”

“I will see you then.” The line goes dead after that last statement and Clark abandons his mixing to go get Bruce up.

He stands in the doorway and just looks at the sleeping child for a minute. _Has he ever seen adult Bruce this peaceful?_ He must have at some point but Clark is sure it’s a rare sight. “Bruce,” Clark calls. “It’s time to get up.” Bruce groans and begins to move so Clark leaves him to it. Going back to his mixing, he continues to make the pancakes. By the time he has three pancakes done, one on one plate for Bruce, and then two on his own plate, he still has seen no sign of Bruce. Going back to the bedroom he sees the child still sleeping. “Bruce, you need to get up, buddy. You need to eat and get ready so I can go to work.” Again, the kid groans and stretches. “I want you out in the kitchen in less than five minutes or else I’m going to make you get up.” An even louder groan of disapproval emits from the body under the covers. Clark really doesn’t know how to deal with a small child. Sighing and thinking maybe he’s going about this in the wrong way, Clark approaches the bed and lifts the covers. Picking up Bruce, he carries him to the kitchen. “Come on.” Clark places him at the counter and in front of his plate.

“You made pancakes?” Bruce asks, eyeing the small round food.

“Yep, and they taste really good.” Clark pours some maple syrup onto them. It’s not the real stuff that Bruce often has at the manor but it’ll have to do. He then proceeds to cut the pancake into small little bite sized portions for Bruce and when done, he hands him the fork. “Eat up, I’ve got to get to work.”

Bruce begins eating along with Clark. “Am I going with you?”

Clark nods. “Yeah, you’ll be spending the day with me at my work, won’t that be fun?”

“Where do you work?” Bruce asks, stuffing another piece of food in his mouth.

Clark shrugs. “A newspaper company. I write news pieces for other people to read.”

Bruce’s eyes grow wide and he smiles. “Did you know I can spell my name?”

It’s not what Clark was expecting but he goes with it. “Really? Let me hear.”

Bruce swallows. “B.R.U.C.E. I… don’t remember what my last name is.”

He looks proud so Clark smiles at him and ruffles his hair despite Clark feeling a little worried by the fact that Bruce can’t even remember what his last name is. “Good job. You’re just so smart.” Bruce’s proud smile grows. When Clark and then Bruce are done eating breakfast and plates are in the sink, Clark walks Bruce over to the bathroom. He didn’t get him cleaned up from yesterday so he’s still quite dirty. Clark will also probably have to change his bedspread. He fills the bath, letting Bruce squeeze in the bubble bath soup, and then helps the child strip out of his pajamas and get into the tub. “Stay here, I just need to get a few other things ready, okay?”

Bruce nods, playing with the bubbles. “But don’t be gone long.”

Clark frowns at the statement and leaves. He gathers his paperwork into the briefcase he takes to work and then places the crayons and coloring books inside the briefcase as well. He then goes to his bedroom, grabs Ace, the stuffed bat, and sets it on top of his briefcase in order to not forget it. After, he goes back to the bedroom and grabs some clothes for Bruce. By the time he gets back to Bruce, the child is just staring at the water and doing nothing. “You okay?”

Bruce snaps his head up in surprise. “Yeah.”

Seeing Bruce’s smile, Clark decides to accept that answer. He helps clean Bruce up, washing his hair for him and then allowing the child to wash his own body when Clark pours the body wash into his small hands. Clark then lifts Bruce out of the tub and begins to dry his small body off. As he scrubs the water from Bruce’s hair, he notices the child looks sad again. “What is it?”

Bruce looks up at him and Clark stops drying. He opens his mouth but nothing comes out and instead Bruce shuts his mouth without a word. Clark waits patiently and hands him his underwear, pants, and shirt. “I was just...”

Clark raises an eyebrow. “Just what? Arms up.” Clark slips the shirt on him and then helps him with socks and shoes.

“Never mind,” Bruce says quietly.

Clark looks at him as he grabs a comb to start combing the child’s hair. “You know you can talk to me right? You can tell me anything you want.”

“I know,” Bruce agrees but still doesn’t say what he was about to.

Clark silently sighs, finishing combing Bruce’s hair back in the style of adult Bruce, as the child continues to look sad. Even though he knows Bruce uses product to keep his hair slicked back, Clark just couldn’t help styling it the same way when little Bruce’s hair is wet. It won’t dry and stay that way, but it’s fun to see while it lasts. Clark quickly brushes his and then Bruce’s teeth, using the new toothbrush he bought last night on Bruce. Kneeling back down to look Bruce in the eyes after putting the toothbrush away, Clark says, “I want you to be happy, Bruce.”

Bruce hugs him, burying his face into Clark’s shoulder. “I know.” Bruce doesn’t let go so Clark has no choice but to lift the kid and carry him. He leaves the bathroom and picks up his briefcase and Ace, sparing a quick glance towards the plates and cups in the sink. Normally he would have time to wash any dishes he used in the morning before leaving, especially if he used his super speed, but now with Bruce to take care of, it looks like it’ll have to wait until tonight. Bruce’s face is still buried in his shoulder and Clark begins to wonder if he is going to fall back asleep until he hears the child speak. “Do you have Ace?” It’s muffled but Clark can still make it out.

“I do. Do you want to hold him?” Bruce nods against him so he hands the stuffed animal over. Bruce continues to keep his face in Clark’s shoulder as Clark walks to work and Clark is honestly starting to worry a little. _Are children supposed to be this tired in the morning? Is he even doing this because he’s tired? Is it something else?_ “Bruce, are you alright from last night?”

“Uh huh.” Clark believes it to be a lie but he also doesn’t know what else to say so he doesn’t say anything at all.

Clark enters the _Daily Planet_ building and sees J’onn waiting for him in the lobby. He approaches him. “Hey, John,” Clark greets, using his cover name. Bruce finally lifts his head from Clark’s shoulder and eyes the Martian with suspicion. J’onn is in his human disguise and Bruce, without any prior memory, doesn’t recognize him. Clark whispers, “Bruce, this is J’onn but this is his disguise so no one will know who he is. When he’s in this form, we call him John, like the Green Lantern.”

“Okay,” Bruce says with a smile towards J’onn.

Clark smiles at Bruce’s suddenly improved mood and is glad the kid is starting to cheer up. It must have been that talk about his parents last night. What else could it be? Clark then sets Bruce down and grabs a hold of his hand with the one Clark isn’t holding his briefcase with. “Come on, let’s go up.” Clark almost expected Bruce to throw a fit and demand to be picked back up, but the four year old remains silent except for a few comments to J’onn. As the three of them ride the elevator up, J’onn looks increasingly uncomfortable with such a small Bruce who is very different from his bigger counterpart. “Perry’s office is this way.” Clark leads them to his boss’ office, glancing around and seeing that Lois and Jimmy have yet to arrive. He’s glad. Clark doesn’t want them asking questions at the moment while trying to straighten out the Perry situation. What he does notice, however, are the stares he gets from his other coworkers.

Bruce is growing shy and is practically clinging to his pant leg, looking around at everyone’s stares and murmurs with apprehension. “Clark?”

Clark looks down at him and smiles. “Don’t worry.” This doesn’t seem to comfort the child though. Once they reach Perry’s office door, Clark knocks and opens it as soon as he hears an angry admission. “Uh, Sir, I would like to introduce you to a couple of people.”

Perry turns from where he was staring out the window. “This isn’t the time Kent,” he says angrily.

Bruce flinches and hides behind Clark’s leg. _He’s scaring him_ , Clark hears in his head and he quickly glances at J’onn. Clark has to take a silent deep breath to control his sudden anger at his boss. “S-Sir, I’m sorry if this isn’t a good time but it’s... uh, important.”

“Fine, make it quick.” Perry sits down at his desk.

Clark nudges Bruce from behind him who refuses at first but at the second push, steps out from behind Clark warily. “This is my cousin, Bruce.” He winces internally. He probably should have come up with a different name. _It is too late now Kal-El_ , J’onn says inside his head. “I’m watching him for a little while and since I can’t get him a babysitter because... well, his parents would kill me if they found out they left me to watch him and then I had someone else watch him because, you know, they chose me for-”

Perry cuts him off. “Back on track, Kent.”

Clark pushes at his glasses. “R-Right. Um, well, I’m going to have to bring him to work with me for a few days, possibly a week at most.”

“And what if there’s a story I need you to get on because Lane isn’t available?” Perry asks.

“Well, that’s why the other person, my friend, is here for me to introduce you to,” Clark begins. “This is John. John, do you want to explain things to Mr. White?”

Perry turns to J’onn and J’onn’s eyes immediately start to glow. “What is he doing?” Bruce asks from beside him.

“He’s helping me convince my boss to not make me go on any dangerous story chases that I can’t bring you on.” Clark sees the calculations working in the small brain of Bruce’s

“Does that mean...” Bruce looks to Perry and then back to Clark. “Does that mean you won’t be leaving me?”

Clark kneels down. “I won’t be leaving you Bruce, but you have to also understand that I can’t-” Clark is interrupted.

“Very well, Kent. No dangerous cases for you for however long you need to keep bringing the kid with you.” Perry picks up the phone, probably to continue whatever had him so mad to begin with. “Now get out of my office and get to work.”

“Yes Sir.” Clark solutes him and takes Bruce by the hand again, leading his two companions out of the office.

When they reach Clark’s desk, J’onn turns to them. “I will be leaving now.”

“Yeah, thanks John, I appreciate it.” Clark clasps him on the shoulder.

J’onn nods. “It was no problem Clark.”

J’onn then turns and starts to walk away. “Bye John!” Bruce calls after him, waving his hand. The child then turns to Clark. “So I get to spend the whole day with you?” Clark nods and thinks about trying again to explain to Bruce that he can’t be with him twenty-four-seven seven days a week and there are times where they will be separated, but decides to wait until they get home just in case Bruce has a fit and starts crying. Instead he just ruffles Bruce’s drying hair, messing it up, and causing the kid to laugh.

“And who might this little guy be?” Clark turns to see Lois walking up with Jimmy.

Clark clears his throat, getting ready to go into character. “Oh, hi L-Lois, Jimmy. This here is my cousin, distant cousin, Bruce uh... from across the country. His parents asked me to look after him while they are on vacation.”

“They didn’t have any closer family to watch him, someone who knows him better?” Lois inquires.

“Uh... well, you see, Lois, Bruce and I actually do know each other pretty well,” Clark figures it’s not a lie. “Just because they live far away doesn’t mean I’m not close with the family.”

Lois’ eyes narrow. “I didn’t even know your parents had any siblings.”

Clark scratches the back of his neck and pushes his glasses back up. “Yeah, he’s from my mom’s side.”

Lois’ eyes narrow even more and she looks suspicious. “But weren’t you adopted? How does he look just like you?”

“Um...” Clark begins but he honestly has yet to come up with a good reason of why Bruce looks like him. As much as he would hate for Lois and Jimmy to be manipulated by mind control, he really does wish J’onn was still here.

“Does it really matter, Ms. Lane?” Jimmy kneels down to eye level with Bruce, who is behind Clark’s leg again. “There’s plenty of people out there with black hair and blue eyes.” He sticks his hand out then. “Hi, I’m Jimmy.”

Bruce doesn’t say anything so Clark nudges him again. “Be polite.”

Bruce hesitantly takes Jimmy’s hand. “Hi.”

Lois then stoops down too. “Hey there, Bruce, I’m Lois. It’s nice to meet you.”

Bruce takes her hand too. “Hello.”

Lois stands back up. “He’s cute but you know, he kind of looks like Bruce Wayne.”

Clark knows what is going on through her head. “Yeah, his parents are actually fans of Brucie. That’s why they named him Bruce.”

Lois nods, still looking suspicious as another woman walks by. “They’re fans of Brucie Wayne? Are they insane? The only thing the guy has going for him is his looks and money, and maybe how good he is in bed,” the other woman comments after eavesdropping on their conversation before walking away.

Clark suppresses a sigh. He’s used to hearing these comments about Bruce’s dumbed down alter ego. One time he told Bruce how much it bothered him and didn’t understand how it didn’t bother Bruce. The man only responded by giving him a shrug and saying that he knows it’s not true about him so he doesn’t really care what others thinks. Besides, Bruce, as he states it, wants them to think that of him. Clark just can’t stand it either way but unfortunately always has to play along or shut up about it.

There’s a tug at his pant leg and Clark looks down. “Who is Bruce Wayne?”

“He is a famous billionaire,” Clark answers as Jimmy walks away and Lois walks around his own desk in order to get to hers. “And,” Clark kneels down to whisper in Bruce’s ear. “He’s also Batman.”

Bruce’s eyes grow wide and Clark can really learn to love that look. “Really!” Bruce whispers excitedly back. “And I have the same name as him!” He hugs his little bat close to his chest.

“Yep, you have the same name as Batman.” Clark watches the excitement overwhelm the child.

“Now I really want to meet him.” Bruce bounces with excitement. “But I know he’s really busy.”

Clark tries to straighten out Bruce’s hair somewhat. “That he is.” He then stands up and sits down at his desk. “Now Bruce, I need to start working.” Opening his briefcase he pulls out the coloring book and crayons. “I brought your coloring so you can do that.”

Bruce grabs the book and crayons. “Can I sit in your lap?”

Clark looks at his keyboard to Bruce. He’s really not sure how comfortable that will be and if it’ll even be possible. “I don’t know Bruce...”

“Please?” The child gives him his best puppy dog look.

Sighing in defeat, Clark holds his hands out. “Okay, come here.” Clark makes a mental note to stop letting Bruce get whatever he wants. He can’t imagine Alfred allowing that after Bruce’s parents died. He picks Bruce up into his lap. Bruce then places the coloring book on top of his desk, pushing a neat stack of papers out of his way, and starts picking out a page to color, settling on one of a dog.

Reaching around the child and starting to type isn’t as bad and uncomfortable as he first thought it would be. Bruce is slim so he doesn’t have to really spread his arms out that wide. Bruce is also leaning forward slightly so it’s not hard for Clark to see his computer screen at all. Bruce’s back is still pressed to his chest despite his leaning forward but that too doesn’t get in the way of Clark. He’s glad it didn’t turn out the way he was expecting because he would have really hated having to tell Bruce that he had to color on the floor due to him being in the way. He can just imagine the tantrum that would have created.

An hour goes by without disturbance until Perry sticks his head out of his office. “Lane, Kent, there’s a press conference that I need you two to go to.”

“Who is it Chief?” Lois asks.

“The governor.” He shuts his door.

Clark looks at the shut door astonished. Did Perry really find a loophole in the whole not sending him to cover something dangerous by deciding to send him off to a press conference? What was he supposed to do with Bruce? Without saying anything he picks up Bruce, who drops his crayon, and walks over to Perry’s office. He knocks and waits for permission to enter. Once inside the room, he doesn’t hesitate to ask, “Sir, what am I supposed to do with Bruce? I thought you weren’t going to send me anywhere?”

“Huh?” Perry looks up from his paperwork and eyes the child in his arms. “He can stay here until you get back. Have someone watch him.”

“I can’t do that,” Clark says, not even bothering with his klutzy, shy façade. “He’s my responsibility.”

“Fine, then I’ll watch him.” He motions to the love seat that is in his office. “He can stay in here and do whatever kids do until you get back.”

Clark feels Bruce stiffen and tighten his hold around his neck before Perry even finishes. “I’m not so sure. I promised his parents I would watch him.”

“Kent,” Perry is starting to look annoyed. “It’ll be fine. It’s not a dangerous press conference so you should be back within two hours. Now go, the conference starts in a half hour.”

Clark, defeated, sets Bruce down. “You leaving?”

Sighing, Clark cards his fingers through Bruce’s hair, trying to settle it. “Yeah I have to but I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Bruce opens his mouth to say something but Clark stands instead and retrieves the coloring book and crayons, along with Ace that was left behind. Returning to his boss’ office, he hands the child the three items. “Here, you can still do these while I’m gone.”

“I don’t want you to go,” Bruce grabs onto Clark’s sleeve and doesn’t let go, holding Ace close to his chest.

“Bruce,” Clark starts, soothingly. “I have to, it’s my job.”

“But-” Clark doesn’t allow him to continue and stands back up, prying Bruce’s fingers from his sleeve.

“I’ll be back soon, I promise.” Clark smiles down at him and then starts to go towards the door.

Bruce runs after him and latches onto his pant leg. “No, don’t go.” Clark sees the tears pooling in the four year old’s eyes and watches as they spill. “Don’t go.”

Clark knew this was going to happen. Bending back down he wipes the tears away but they’re only replaced with more as the child cries. “I’m sorry Bruce but Perry, my boss, is telling me I have to go.”

“Can’t I go with you?” Clark feels a presence come up behind him and he knows it’s Lois. “I promise to be good.”

Clark shakes his head. “No you can’t.”

“Is he going to be crying the whole time you’re gone?” Perry asks, watching them closely. “Hey kid, it won’t be so bad in here. You get to be in my office instead of out there where it’s noisy. I’ll even color with you.”

Perry comes up and takes Bruce’s hand and starts to guide the crying child to the couch. “But I want to go with Clark,” Bruce sobs.

Lois puts a hand on his shoulder. “Come on Smallville, before you staying here makes it worse.” Clark takes one last look over at Bruce where Perry is trying to calm him. Clark follows Lois out of the office and then building, all the way to the parking garage where the two of them get into her car, Lois driving. “He’ll be fine, Clark. Just a little clingy, that’s all.”

Clark shrugs, looks out the passenger side window. “It seems more than that though. He never wants me to leave his sight and if I do then he cries.”

Lois doesn’t say anything for a long time, going through two stops at intersections before she comments. “Maybe he has separation anxiety?”

_Separation anxiety?_ Clark thinks about it. It would make sense. “How so?”

“Well,” Lois stops at another red light. “He’s dropped off by his parents who promptly leave him instead of taking him with them and, being only, what, four, five, he probably feels abandoned. He’s most likely scared you’re going to do the same thing.”

Of course, why didn’t Clark think of that? Bruce remembers his parents dying. Even if he doesn’t remember that they are his parents, Clark is sure the feeling is still there and if he remembers that then he probably remembers the times Dick and Tim left and when Jason died. He now has Damian and Jason is back but Clark wouldn’t be surprised if those memories bring back the feeling of abandonment, especially to a four year old that really can’t comprehend what he is remembering. “Lois, turn around.”

“What?” She glances over to him and then back to the road.

“Turn around,” he says urgently. “I need to get Bruce.”

Lois looks astonished. “You can’t bring him to the press conference.”

“I don’t care, I’m not leaving him there either.” Clark gives Lois a determined look. “I’m not going to allow him to think I abandoned him.”

Lois eyes him from the corners of her eyes and that’s when Clark realizes he forgot to act like the ditzy person Clark Kent is supposed to be. “Okay... if you say so, Smallville, but we’re going to have to be quick if we don’t want to be late.”

“I’ll be quick.” Clark sits back while Lois gets into a left lane to turn around. When they get back to the _Daily Planet_ building, Clark rushes in, uses his speed up the stairs, and goes straight to Perry’s office and knocking. He can hear Bruce is still crying.

Once he gets permission to enter, he does. Bruce sees him immediately and brightens up significantly. “Clark!” Bruce runs to him and hugs his legs.

“Kent, what are you doing here?” Perry stands and approaches him.

“I-I’ve decided to bring the little one with me.” Clark stutters.

“To the press conference?” Perry asks skeptically.

“I’ll be good, I promise, Mr. White.” Bruce looks up at him with a tear stained face and red, puffy eyes.

Perry chuckles and ruffles Bruce’s hair. “Okay, kid, as long as you’re good.”

A smile forms on Bruce’s face and Clark picks him up. As he makes his way back to Lois, who is waiting in a parking spot off the side of the road, he helps Bruce wipe the tears away. “I will never abandon you Bruce.” Bruce doesn’t say anything and instead wraps his arms around his neck and cuddles close to him. At Lois’ car, Clark buckles Bruce into the back and then gets back there with him. Lois doesn’t have a booster seat so Clark figures it would probably be safer if he was in the back as well. Once all settled, Lois pulls out of the parking space, cutting someone off in the process, and hightails it to the press conference.

...

Lois and Clark sit side by side in uncomfortable folding chairs, each of them with a notepad and pen out, ready to start writing the shorthand that journalists use. Bruce is sitting in Clark’s lap quietly, patiently waiting for the conference to start. Clark’s not really sure why Perry wanted both he and Lois to go to this thing. It’s not the first time Clark and Lois have gone to something together as the press, but this time it just seems unnecessary.

Bruce waves his bat around and turns around to Clark. "When is it going to start?"

Clark pulls Bruce onto his lap more and shifts in order for Bruce to not be in the way of his writing. "Soon." As if on cue, the room goes silent and all heads turn to watch as the governor comes out. "See, that's who we were waiting for," Clark whispers.

"That's the governor?" Bruce asks. "He important?"

Clark nods. "Yeah, he's very important." Clark brings his index finger up to his lips. "You have to be quiet now because it's about to start." Bruce nods and faces forward.

Clark has to admit; Bruce did what he said and was extremely good. He did everything Clark told him to do, stayed quiet, and didn't fuss much with having to sit for such a long period of time. The only thing that went wrong was when Clark got to ask a question and some eyes turned to him, looked shocked that he had a child on his lap, and then sent him scalding looks that told him that they didn't approve. Clark can't fathom what their problem is though considering Bruce isn't being a nuisance or anything of the sort. In fact, Bruce is being too good for a four year old. Clark wonders if this is another thing leaking through from adult Bruce. Is Bruce's training that helped him perfect Batman's stealth aiding to child Bruce's patients and ability to wait for long periods of times without much movement?

Clark shakes the thought out of his head and stands when the conference is done. He places Bruce on the floor and grabs his hand, holding it so the child doesn't run off. Not that Clark really thinks Bruce will run off but he doesn't want anymore accusatory stares.

Bruce tugs at his hand until he looks down. "Is that it?"

Before Clark can answer him, one of the other journalists comes up to him. Clark recognizes her as someone who does the morning news on TV. "What were you thinking bringing a child with you to such a thing?"

Clark has met her before and has never liked her. She's always butting into people’s business and trying to control them. It almost reminds Clark of Bruce but the way Bruce does it is endearing and definitely not the same as this woman. This woman does it to be mean and bitchy. Bruce does it because he cares. There's a huge difference in Clark's eyes. "Ms. Harold, I'm sorry you think it's wrong that I bring my cousin, whom I'm babysitting by the way, to this press conference, but not only was he on his best behavior so you have nothing to complain about but it's also really," Clark clears his throat to keep up pretenses. "None of your business."

She scoffs." _Excuse me_ , Kent?" She gets a little closer to him and Bruce hides behind his leg. "Not my business? It is my business when it has to do with my work, in which case it does."

Clark looks to the bathroom door where Lois went. She's always so much better at this stuff than he is. "It has nothing to do with your work, Ms. Harold. It has to do with my work and my work only and I already got permission from my boss."

She's sneering at him now. "You expect me to be okay with it just because that good for nothing Perry White said it was?" She laughs, short and pointed. "Yeah right, Kent. It does have something to do with my job because I'm here too. There's a lot of other people here and you never see them bringing their child."

"Come off it Fiona." Clark turns to Lois, who has just come out of the bathroom. "First off, Bruce is his cousin not his child, listen and you would know that. Second off, Clark has every right to bring his four year old cousin with him if he's babysitting him and especially if Perry said it was alright." Lois' hands go to her hips. "And besides, you didn't see the security saying he couldn't bring him in did you?" Fiona purses her lips and looks away, arms crossed. "Bruce was an angel through the whole thing so why don't you be a dear and go be a bitch to someone else and leave Clark and Bruce alone."

With that being said, Fiona huffs and turns, walking away, clearly agitated. Clark turns to Lois. "Thanks Lois."

Lois shrugs. "Someone had to say it if you weren't." Clark refrains from pointing out that he was going to until Lois beat him to it. Lois crouches down. "You don't listen to anything that mean woman said, Bruce. You were wonderful sitting there."

Bruce smiles as Lois ruffles his hair. When she stops, he points at her. "You said a bad word."

Both Clark and Lois laugh. "Yeah, yeah I did."

...

They go to lunch after leaving the conference and then back to the _Daily Planet_ to finish up the day. Perry asked him how everything went and he tells him it went fine, leaving out the whole fiasco with Fiona. He's sure Lois will mention it to him later anyways. He has to carry Bruce back home because of how tired the child is. Once home, Clark deposits Bruce onto the couch, turns the TV to some cartoon that captures Bruce's attention right away, and then starts on making supper.

At the dinner table, Bruce picks at his chicken. "Clark?" He hums to let the child know he's listening as he reads today's newspaper since he didn't have time this morning. "Why did that mean lady think I was your son?"

Clark looks up from the paper and eyes the four year old. Shrugging, he answers, "Probably because we look a lot alike." Bruce continues to push his peas around on the plate and prod at the chicken, looking forlorn. "What's wrong?"

Clark knows exactly what is wrong but he doesn't want to talk about it and he's almost positive Bruce will tell him it's nothing because that's just who Bruce is, regardless of age. "Nothing."

"Then eat your supper." Bruce doesn't listen and doesn't start eating. "If you eat at least your chicken we'll watch a movie once you're done and you can pick it out."

Bruce lights up then and starts to finish all his food on his plate. Clark even has to tell him to slow down in fear of him choking. When done, Clark and Bruce go to sit on the couch after Clark speed washes the dishes. Clark lifts Bruce up and places the kid on the couch beside him. Bruce then crawls up tight against him, pressing into his side in a cuddly manner. Bruce draws his feet up onto the couch, kicking his shoes off in the process, and pulls his knees into his chest. Smiling, Clark drapes an arm around Bruce’s shoulders.

Bruce picks a movie, Clark making sure it’s rated G, and they watch it in silence except for some laughing at funny scenes. At the end of the movie, Bruce gives a long, big yawn and Clark carries him to the bed. He helps him change into his pajamas and then tucks him in for the night. “Clark, will you sleep in here again?”

Clark looks at him and sighs. “Yeah, I will.”

Clark grabs his own pajamas and starts to change into them. “Clark?”

When Clark turns around, Bruce is sitting up. “Yeah?” He finishes getting into his pajamas and makes his way to the other side of the bed.

“I was just wondering...” Bruce stops, hesitating, and Clark climbs into the bed, lying down to try and prompt the child to lie down himself. He doesn’t and instead looks at Clark. “Will you...” He hesitates again, scrunching into himself slightly and avoiding eye contact. “Will you be my daddy?”

Clark’s heart drops so far that he’s sure it reaches all the way to the other side of the world. “Bruce...”

“Please, Clark?” Bruce finally makes eye contact with him, his blue eyes glistening. He looks away again and starts to play with the blanket, picking at it. “I just want a dad,” he says softly.

Clark isn’t sure what to say. He doesn’t want to be Bruce’s dad. He didn’t even want to look after him in the first place. Clark guesses he probably should have nipped the clinginess in the butt with the first sign of it. But looking at Bruce now, the sad, lonely, four year old that remembers some memories that he is just too young or not experienced enough to really understand them, Clark can’t help but feel sorry for him and... caring towards him. Except a different kind of caring. The caring he feels right now as he looks at the small child isn’t the same caring that he feels when he looks at or even thinks about adult Bruce. It’s directed specifically towards a small child and Clark knows he would feel this way to any small child. It’s the kind of thing Clark specifically wanted to avoid when Bruce is in this form. He doesn’t want to think of Bruce Wayne, billionaire during the day, Batman at night, as a small little kid. He wants to think of adult Bruce and care for him. That’s the point isn’t it? The care Clark feels towards adult Bruce, the love he feels towards him, is unique from everything else and Clark doesn’t want that tainted... as selfish as that sounds.

Sighing, he motions for the boy to come closer and Bruce obeys, lying down and snuggling up against him. Clark doesn’t want to say yes, is reluctant too, but how can Clark say no to him when he’s looking so sad? “I’ll be your dad, Bruce.” Clark ignores the pain in his gut that his emotions are causing and stares at the ceiling.

“Really?” Bruce asks sleepily.

“Really.” Clark can feel Bruce’s smile and he can feel when Bruce tightens his arms around him but Clark doesn’t want to be there, doesn’t want to feel how happy he just made the four year old. He wants his best friend back.

“Goodnight, Daddy.” Bruce whispers and Clark doesn’t say anything. When Bruce falls asleep, Clark stops staring at the ceiling by closing his eyes to try and get some sleep himself. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get any and before he knows it, his alarm is going off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Updates will be every Friday. Next update scheduled for: 12/4/15 EST. To see a full list of dates, please go [here](http://angelcamael.tumblr.com/post/132217933841/loss-of-time).
> 
> I hope everyone who celebrates it had a wonderful Thanksgiving. :)


	6. Chapter 6

Bruce keeps calling him daddy and it makes Clark uncomfortable. "Daddy, can I bring my Superman and Batman today?" Clark doesn't answer, putting his paperwork into his briefcase. "Daddy?"

Clark looks down at the tug at his pants and sees Bruce looking up at him with a sad, worried look, Superman and Batman plushie in his hands. Sighing, Clark steels himself. "Of course, you can, Bruce."

Bruce smiles and runs off to get his own stuff gathered. Running back, he has his coloring book, crayons, and Ace in his hands next. "I'm all ready, Daddy."

Clark _gently_ closes his briefcase and turns to Bruce. He kneels down to look at him at eye level. "Bruce, can you just wait to call me dad?"

"Why?" Bruce asks.

Clark tries to think of a good response. "Because I need some time to get used to it."

Bruce draws into himself and looks sad. "But you said you'd be my dad."

"And I am, really, I just..." Clark is quick to inform the child, wanting to avoid a tantrum. "Bruce, I just need some... some time to get used to our new father and son relationship and _then_ get used to you calling me dad. I can't do that all at once. Do you understand? Just give me a few days, okay?" Clark isn't sure if only a few days will be enough time but he's praying that it is.

Bruce still looks forlorn but not as sad as before. "Okay."

Clark refrains from ruffling up Bruce's neatly combed back hair and instead smiles. "Thank you, Bruce." Clark stands. "Ready?" Bruce nods and Clark takes his hand after taking the two Superman and Batman stuffed toys. They walk to the _Daily Planet_ hand in hand and in silence.

Clark's almost afraid he made Bruce just as sad as he was before the whole Clark being his dad thing came up but then the child speaks up. "Is Lois going got be there today?"

"Yeah, she should be," Clark answers.

"I like her." A smile forms on Bruce's lips and Clark is immediately reminded of the fact that Bruce and Lois used to date way back when Clark and Bruce, as well as Superman and Batman, made their acquaintance. They didn't date long because ultimately Batman got in between them but it still made Clark jealous. Of course, thinking about it years later and now with a crush on Bruce, Clark is no longer sure who he was jealous of; Bruce or Lois.

Clark wants to change the subject. "I was thinking maybe I could try to get out of work early and we can go to the park."

"Yeah!" Bruce jumps up and down.

Clark chuckles. "And then after, maybe we can go and visit our other friends."

Clark is glad that, even at four, Bruce is still pretty smart and understands who he is talking about. Bouncing up and down, Bruce says enthusiastically, "Can we Clark, can we?"

Clark has to hold back another laugh. "Yeah, yeah we can."

They get to the _Daily Planet_ soon after that and as soon as Bruce sees Lois, he pulls away from him and runs up to her. "Lois!"

Lois turns around and crouches just in time to catch a barreling Bruce in her arms. "Hey kid."

"Lois, today Clark and I are going to go to the park," Bruce tells her.

Lois stands up. "Oh wow, that's exciting."

Clark sets everything down on his desk and then approaches the two. "Lois, do you think you could distract him a little while I go talk to Perry?" Clark asks, whispering in her ear. She nods and then goes up to Bruce to implement whatever she plans on doing to distract the kid. Clark then heads to Perry's Office, knocking on the door and then entering when allowed.

"What do you need Kent?" Perry asks right away.

"Um..." He begins. "I was wondering if I could take a half a day. I want to bring Bruce to the park."

Perry studies him. "I know about what happened with Fiona Harold." Clark blushes. "I'm sorry that happened, especially in front of the kid."

"T-thank you," Clark stutters.

Sighing, Perry continues. "I suppose you can have a half day. It's not like you never frequently do anyways."

Clark doesn't even need the blush for his role as Clark Kent this time. He has to admit, being Superman, he really does have to step out quite often. "Thank you, Sir."

"I expect you to get a lot of work done while you're here though." Perry then waves him out and Clark obeys. When he gets back to his desk, he's bombarded by Bruce running into his legs. "Hey, I wasn't gone that long."

"You didn't tell me you were leaving," Bruce whines.

"Sorry Clark, it's hard to distract him." Lois comes up to them. "He's really focused for a four year old."

Clark pats the four year old's head. "Okay, I'll never leave without telling you again."

Bruce squeezes at his legs and demands, "Promise."

Clark catches Lois' eyes for a split second. "Bruce, I can't just-"

"But you said you would tell me." Bruce stomps a little, pouting.

Sighing, Clark decides to finally put his foot down. "Yes, I'll tell you when I'm leaving but you can't expect me to be with you all day, Bruce." The kid looks like he is about to cry. "But it's okay because despite that, I will never leave you for good. I will always come back, I promise that."

"No." Clark and Lois look down at him in shock at his outburst. "I don't want you to leave me."

Clark's patience is running very thin. First the whole dad thing and now this. "I’m not leaving you, Bruce, I just said I will come back, always."

Bruce's arms cross in front of his chest looking very much like a shrunk Bruce Wayne. "No, you're not allowed to leave me."

"You can't control everything, Bruce," Clark snaps.

"Clark," Lois says in warning.

"I need to have time to myself that isn't with you too." Bruce flinches and rubs at his eyes. Clark softens and gets down to Bruce's level. "I'm not saying I don't enjoy being with you, I do, I really, really enjoy spending time with you, Bruce. But you have to understand that people also need their alone time."

Bruce continues to rub at his eyes. "But I'm afraid to be alone."

Clark slouches in defeat. "I know you are but Bruce, remember when I said I will never abandon you?" Bruce nods and sniffles. "I was telling the truth. You don't ever have to be afraid of being alone because no matter what, I will always come back to you, I will always be there for you." He pulls Bruce into a hug who collapses against him. "That I do promise." He holds him for a little longer. "You understand?"

Bruce nods against his shoulder and then pulls away, wiping at his wet eyes. Clark helps by pulling out the handkerchief he carries around. When Bruce's face is dry, the kid asks, "Are we still going to the park?"

Clark smiles. "Of course, we are. I wouldn't let anything ruin that for us."

Bruce smiles and rubs at his eyes one last time. "Can I still sit on your lap?"

Sighing and chuckling, Clark picks him up. "Yeah you can."

Clark sits down at his desk and settles Bruce onto his lap. Bruce then turns in his lap and wraps his arms around Clark's neck. "Thank you, Clark, I'm sorry for being bad."

Clark hugs him back. "You weren't being bad, Bruce." Bruce's arms tighten slightly.

...

When the both of them get to the park, there are already other kids there with parents that either don't have a job or took the day off, even half a day off. It's summer so the parents also don't need to worry about school. Clark sets Bruce down and the child eyes the structure. "There's a lot of kids here."

Clark looks down at Bruce who is holding his hand without the briefcase. "Do you want to do something else?"

Bruce shakes his head and takes a tentative step forward. "No, I think... I think I’ll be okay." Bruce looks up at him. "You'll be here?" Seeming to catch himself, Bruce looks down at the ground. "Sorry," he says quietly.

Clark feels bad. "There's nothing wrong in asking if I'll still be here or if I'll stay, Bruce, especially in a situation like this. You just can't expect the answer to always be yes."

"Okay." Bruce still sounds kind of sad.

"Don't worry I'll be right here," Clark reassures and Bruce brightens.

"I'll go play now." He then runs off with his Superman and Batman plushie in hand, leaving Ace behind with Clark.

Clark watches him start to climb onto the structure. Just as Clark suspected, even that great ability leaked through to little Bruce. He is way too graceful climbing up the bars than a four year old should be. "Is that your son?"

Clark sighs internally, really not feeling up to explaining the whole cousin thing. He braces himself and says, "Yeah, he is." As much as he doesn't want to be Bruce's parent, he doesn't want to go into a whole spiel of babysitting his cousin to a stranger even more.

The man watches Bruce climb and play. "He looks just like you. That's my daughter." He points to a young girl, around Bruce's de-aged age. "Except she looks a lot like her mother."

Clark smiles to be polite. "She's cute." His eyes then go back to Bruce, wanting to make sure he's okay. Clark hasn't forgotten about the mages that are after them and though he hasn't gotten a call from the Watchtower informing him that they have arrived, he wants to be safe than sorry. Clark side eyes the man who is still talking to him, wondering if he is supposed to be a distraction so the magicians can easily grab Bruce. He opens his hearing in order to listen to Bruce when he's not looking at him. The child is playing alone, not attempting any contact with the other children.

"...and then they upgraded the old playground into this one," Clark tunes back into what the man is saying to him. "I think the kids like this one better than the other one." He sticks out his hand. "I'm Henry, by the way."

Clark shakes his hand. "Clark."

Henry smiles at him. "Nice to meet you Clark." He turns back to the playground. "Sophie, be careful!" The little girl turns to her father and stops from going onto the monkey bars. "Your son seems a little shy." He motions over to where Bruce is standing off to the side, watching all the kids and no longer playing. Clark frowns. "He seems to be around the same age as Sophie, do you want to see if they'll play together?"

Clark frowns even more. _Is this the magicians’ way of getting to Bruce?_   "It's okay, thanks. I'm sure he'll warm up. It just takes a little while." He smiles when he sees Bruce run back into the throe of small children and goes straight to the monkey bars.

Bruce makes eye contact with him. “Clark, watch me! I can do the monkey bars.”

“He calls you by your name?” Henry asks curiously.

Clark shrugs and watches as Bruce successfully makes it across the monkey bars. Just another thing to tick off the list of Batman abilities that he still has. He gives Bruce two thumbs up and a wide smile. Bruce responds by going back to the monkey bars to do it again. Clark looks to Henry. “He just barely started to remember what my name is so now he’s kind of obsessed with saying it.”

Henry laughs. “I don’t think Sophie _ever_ went through a stage like that.”

Clark laughs too, only to play along. “Yeah it’s kind of weird but it makes him happy. I’m sure he’ll start calling me daddy again soon.”

“What about his mom?” Henry looks over to Sophie and smiles as the little girl tells another little boy what to do in the game they’re playing. “Does he call her by her name too or is it still mommy?”

Clark squirms, again to keep up appearances. “His mom isn’t around anymore.”

Henry looks back at him sympathetically. “Oh man, I’m sorry. I totally over stepped my bounds didn’t I?”

Clark smiles reassuringly. “Don’t worry about it, it was three and half years ago and Bruce was just a baby.”

“Still,” Henry says. “It must still hurt, especially for you.” Clark shrugs again. “May I ask how it happened?”

“Car accident. Some drunk driver was speeding and hit her head on.” Clark feels like he’s getting better and better at lying. “She died on impact.” He pretends to be sullen and grief stricken. “At least she didn’t suffer.”

“Wow, I’m really sorry.” Clark smiles at him in faked thanks. Henry’s eyes then look over his shoulder and his eyebrows scrunch up. “Do you know that man?”

Clark turns around and sees a man dressed neatly and clean, hunched over and talking to Bruce. “No...” Clark opens his hearing, which he thought he already did but somehow didn’t hear Bruce walk over to the mysterious man, and begins to approach them, Henry following closely after calling Sophie over.

“Yeah, I think I last saw my dog over in those bushes.” The man points to some bushes that are pretty far from the playground. “Will you come and help me find him?”

“Bruce?” Clark makes it to them and picks the boy up immediately, glaring at the man. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“He wanted help finding his dog,” Bruce says.

Clark narrows his eyes and can hear Henry behind him discretely taking a picture of the guy. “Leave him alone,” Clark tells the man. He’s not sure whether this guy is just some ordinary creep or one of the magicians, but either way he doesn’t want Bruce near him.

The man holds up his hands in surrender. “Hey man, I just need some help finding my lost dog.”

“Find your dog yourself or call animal services.” Clark stands tall, trying to look intimidating. It feels weird since he doesn’t normally take this stance in his Clark Kent persona, but this is about children’s safety. “You don’t ask children.”

The guy sizes him up then looks behind him to Henry. When he looks back to Clark, he looks annoyed. “Fine, whatever man.” He starts to walk away. “Bye kid.”

“Hope you find your dog,” Bruce calls after him and the retreating man smiles _sweetly_ back.

“Bruce, shoosh,” Clark scolds. “Don’t you _ever_ talk to strangers again and don’t _ever_ go off with them either. If someone like that, even if it’s someone who lives near us, asks you to go with them, _do not_ go, you understand?”

Bruce looks confused and Clark wonders what happened to the cautious little mini-bat. Maybe the adult personality leaks are intermittent. That or this is Bruce’s caring side leaking through. “But he wanted help finding his dog.”

“I don’t care,” Clark informs. “He could be a very bad man and could hurt you.”

“Your daddy is right, kiddo.” Clark turns to Henry. “You don’t want to talk to strangers and go with them without your dad. They could do something bad and really hurt you.”

Bruce nods then lays his head down onto Clark’s shoulder. “Okay.”

“I took a picture of the guy.” Henry holds up his phone and shows Clark the photo. “There’s been reports of a suspicious man lurking around playgrounds and trying to pick up children. I’ll give this picture to the police.” Clark nods and concludes that the man that tried to get Bruce must _not_ have been a magician from another planet that is after them and neither is Henry. “Oh look, Sophie, here comes mommy.” He turns to Clark. “She works just down the street so we tend to meet her here to pick her up. It was nice talking with you Clark.”

Clark smiles. “Same to you Henry.”

He waves and begins to walk towards his wife. “Take care.”

Clark waves back and watches as the family walk to their car and then drive away, the wife being behind the wheel. Clark holds Bruce tighter to him and carries him back to his apartment to get ready for the journey to the Watchtower.

...

When they both arrive at the Watchtower via teleportation, Clark knows everyone is already there. He called them while he was at work, making sure that all of them would be there when he arrived. Using his super hearing, he finds them in the cafeteria. Walking into the room, Clark sees that the members are gathered around a buffet table that is filled with chicken, various vegetables, and a bowl of fruit punch. Clark requested the buffet table, thinking it would be easier for him if he and Bruce just ate at the Watchtower instead of going home and making something for supper. They’re all in their superhero costumes as well, Wally having his cowl off, and each of them are sitting and chatting, looking happy.

Bruce wiggles out of his arms and runs up to them. “Wally!” Clark has to hold back a smirk at how excited little Bruce is at seeing The Flash. Clark will _never_ let Bruce live that down if he remembers all this once turned back.

Wally speeds out of his seat and crouches to catch Bruce and then lift him into his arms. “Hey kiddo, how’s it going?”

“Good! We went to Clark’s work and I got to see Lois and then we went to the park and I could do the monkey bars,” Bruce says excitedly as Wally sits down with the kid in his lap. “And Clark said he’d be my daddy!”

_Every single_ pair of eyes turn to look at Clark as he sets the stuffed toys down on an open spot of the table. He doesn’t meet any of them, feeling his cheeks heat up in not only embarrassment but anger too. He didn’t want Bruce to mention anything about that, even if his secret reasoning of visiting the Watchtower is to discuss just that matter with Diana and J’onn.

“Is that so?” John looks amused as he says this and Diana is failing to hide a smile behind her hand. Shayera isn’t even bothering to hide her smirk and Wally looks shocked. J’onn, as always, looks neutral.

“Yeah, but he doesn’t want me to call him daddy yet,” Bruce continues. Clark stares down at the Superman plushie and pretends to be doing something even though all he wants to do is squeeze it until the stuffing comes out.

“Why’s that?” Shayera asks, now trying to stop herself from laughing and only managing to turn her laughs into small giggles.

Bruce answers honestly. “He said he needs time to get used to being my daddy before I can call him that.”

“Bruce,” Clark interjects sternly and all eyes are on him again except this time in silent shock.

Bruce shrinks back into Wally. “I’m sorry.”

Clark stops himself from glaring at the four year old by looking down and closing his eyes. He unclenches his fists before he pops the stuffed Superman open and instead pinches the bridge of his nose. “It’s okay, I’m sorry.” When he looks back up no one will meet his eyes except for Bruce, J’onn, and Diana. _He’s ruined the mood._ Sighing, Clark turns to Diana. “Can I please speak to you and J’onn? Bruce,” Bruce perks up, not seeming to stay sad with him for very long. “Can you stay here and play with Wally and the others. I need to talk to Diana and J’onn alone.”

“Will you still be here or...” Bruce trails off, remembering their earlier conversation.

Clark sighs and walks around to the other side of the table. “Come here.” Bruce holds out his arms in order to be picked up and once in Clark’s arms, Clark hugs him tightly. “I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

“It’s okay, I forgive you.” Bruce then kisses his cheek and smiles at him toothily.

“I’ll be right over there, right where you can see me and once we’re done talking, I’ll come right back and we can eat and then play for a little longer. How does that sound?” Clark explains.

“Fun!” Bruce bounces in his arms and Clark chuckles.

Setting him down, Clark says, “Okay, go play.” He watches for a little while as he sees Wally, Shayera, and John usher Bruce away from the food and to some open space to play. He then walks over to the Princess and Martian.

“What did you need to discuss Kal?” Diana asks immediately and Clark is grateful they aren’t going to bring up his outburst.

Clark looks back to make sure that Bruce is out of earshot and then back to his two friends. “You all heard what Bruce said, he wants me to be his father.”

Diana nods. “And you agreed.”

“Yeah but...” Clark takes a deep breath, looking down to the floor and shaking his head. When he looks back at his companions, he can see their concerned confusion. “I don’t want to be his father.”

“It’s only for a little while, Kal.” Diana’s eyebrows scrunch together. “What’s wrong with that?”

“Because, I don’t want him thinking I’m his father at all or having those kind of feelings for me,” Clark explains, struggling to keep his voice level in order for his voice to not carry over to the other members and more specifically, Bruce. “What if we turn him back and he still has these familial feelings towards me.”

“I don’t think that would happen,” J’onn finally speaks up.

“How do you know?” Clark looks between the two and he can see understanding finally dawn on Diana.

She smiles slightly. “I think you’re being too much like Batman. There’s nothing to worry about, Kal.”

“And how many times has Batman been wrong?” Clark asks. He answers for them. “Not many.”

“But he’s also not right all the time, either.” John walks up to them, abandoning his play session with Bruce, Wally, and Shayera. “When he is turned back into an adult there is no reason he’ll continue to view you as some father to him or any similar feelings.”

“But it’s still a possibility,” Clark tries to get through to them. “Have we learned nothing from Batman? Always plan ahead and take every outcome, every situation, into account. I don’t want him to be turned back and then he platonically views me as his family. Especially when I view adult Bruce as someone I-” Clark cuts off, refusing to admit anything out loud. “I just... I don’t want to lose my best friend to something as trivial as emotions and certain feelings with specific attachments.”

“Kal, I still think that happening is highly unlikely.” Diana smiles at him. “Come, let us talk, just the two of us.” She places a hand on his shoulder and guides him away from J’onn and John. Once out of earshot of the two, who decide to carry on their own conversation, she turns to him. “I know how you feel about Bruce and I’m pretty sure the others, especially J’onn, know as well.”

Clark slumps. “I figured you and J’onn would know but not the others. How long?”

“I don’t think you give our observational skills enough credit, Kal.” Diana places a hand on his shoulder again. “For awhile now.”

Clark sighs. “If you all know, J’onn with his telepathy excluded, then do you think Bruce knows? After all, he’s like the king of observations. You know, greatest detective and all?”

Diana chuckles and releases his shoulder. “I’m not sure as he is much harder to read but... I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he did know.”

“Then if he knows but hasn’t talked to me about it, then that must mean it’s not reciprocated.” Clark looks to the floor, feeling defeated.

“But you have to remember who you are talking about,” Diana adds. “Bruce is the type to hide how he feels and suppresses it. When it can’t be suppressed then he absolutely refuses to act upon those feelings unless otherwise prompted too or they could be used to reach a goal. I’m sure, if he feels anything the same for you as you do him, then he will eventually act on it if you don’t first. After all, even the Batman can only deny his feelings for so long.”

Clark chuckles at that. Diana does know the two of them really well. “All the more reason to not have him thinking of me as his platonic family.”

She sighs and Clark can see how frustrated she is. “Kal, I’m not going to tell you what to do and force you to play along for now, it’s not my place and I know you won’t listen either way.” He opens his mouth to protest but Diana raises a hand to silence him. “But I have stated my opinion and I know you will take it into consideration. That’s all I can ask for. In the end, I know you will make the decision you think is best for both you _and_ Bruce.”

“Diana-” Clark is about to tell her that he’ll always appreciate her opinions and that she is right, he will take hers along with J’onn’s and John’s views into account while making a decision, when a loud scream comes from across the room. When he whirls around, Bruce is standing by Shayera and Wally, crying and holding his hand. His _bleeding_ hand.

Clark rushes over, possibly even using his super speed but he’s not really sure, and kneels down to pull the small child into his arms. “Kal, I’m sorry, I looked away for just a second and then the next thing I know Bruce is grabbing at my mace.”

“It’s okay Shayera, it’s not your fault.” He smiles at her and her tenseness goes away slightly. He then turns his attention to Bruce’s hand. “Let me see.” Bruce holds out his hand, still crying. Wally speeds back, Clark not knowing when he left, with a towel and Clark takes it to press against Bruce’s palm. “There, there, it’s okay. It’s just a small little scratch. See?” Clark wipes away the blood, the wound already clotting. “It’s all good.” He brings Bruce’s palm to his lips and kisses it then hugs the boy close to his chest. “Better?”

Bruce nods against his shoulder as Shayera joins the two on the ground. “I’m sorry Bruce.” Bruce peeks out from Clark’s shoulder to eye Shayera, tears still streaking his red cheeks. “Hey, you want to touch my wing? I know I didn’t let you earlier but I’ll let you now?” Bruce rubs at his eyes and nods, sniffling a little. “Here.” Shayera then stretches out one of her wings in order for Bruce to feel it.

Bruce, staying securely in Clark’s arms, reaches out with his good hand. Burying his hand into the lesser secondary covert feathers of her wing, he rubs them gently and then says lowly, “Soft.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I based Bruce and Lois dating from the World's Finest movie except I changed it from Lois finding out that Bruce is Batman to Lois not finding it out. So Lois has no idea who Batman is in this. Just figured I'd clear that up just in case any of you wonder that after this chapter and the dating being mentioned. :)
> 
> Also, about the scene with Bruce petting Shayera's wing... well I just really, really wanted a Mini-Bruce to pet Shayera's wing while Clark held him. Thought it would be cute so that's why that's there. ;)
> 
> Anyways, thanks for reading and leaving reviews so far.
> 
> Updates will be every Friday. Next update scheduled for: 12/11/15 EST. To see a full list of dates, please go [here](http://angelcamael.tumblr.com/post/132217933841/loss-of-time).


	7. Chapter 7

Clark and Bruce are at home getting ready for bed. After the whole incident with Shayera’s mace, they all decided to start eating and talking about different things that are going on in each of their lives. They also briefly went over League business, J’onn informing Clark that they have not detected any of the mages yet. It kind of unsettles Clark to know that it’s been days since their escape and yet they have not arrived to try to get them back. J’onn also tells Clark that he, meaning Clark not himself, forgot to tell the Bat family where Bruce would be so the Watchtower ended up getting a very worried call from Nightwing. Apparently J’onn told Nightwing, and in turn the rest of the family, that Batman will be stuck on the Watchtower for a little while, going over things and basically ‘working on a mission’ on the Watchtower. J’onn made it clear that they shouldn’t be worried but Batman will be gone for a little while until what he is working on is completed. Nightwing seemed skeptical, probably wondering what was so important that it would keep Batman away from Gotham for so long, but in the end he accepted the answer, coming to the conclusion that it must be something big. He told J’onn to make sure Batman knows that Red Robin and Robin have Gotham handled and that he would be traveling back and forth from Bludhaven to Gotham to help out as well. Red Hood, on the other hand, is apparently not having a great week and is in a pretty sour mood so it’s debatable whether or not he’ll cooperate in helping to keep Gotham safe. Clark figures if anything, taking out criminals will let him get out his anger. It’s the way he goes about it, though, that has Clark worried.

But, overall, Clark can’t worry about that right now. Not when he has finally made a decision on what to do about the whole dad situation and he has to break it to the currently smiling child. Clark sighs and lifts Bruce so he can spit out the toothpaste and rinse his mouth out. He then helps Bruce out of his clothes and into a pair of pajamas. Sitting down on the edge of the bed and pulling Bruce into his lap, Clark sighs again and allows Bruce to eye him curiously. Clark knows he’s wondering why Clark isn’t allowing him to crawl under the covers and then Clark joining him but he just... doesn’t know how to start.

“Bruce,” he finally settles on. His words sound small and quiet. “I need to talk to you.”

“Okay.” Bruce snuggles closer and rests his head against his chest. Bruce is tired but Clark has to get this out before they go to bed or else he’s going to go crazy.

“I...” Clark trails off, feeling a lump form in his throat. _He has to say this. He has no other choice._ “I know I said that I will be your father but,” This catches the child’s attention and he lifts his head to look at Clark. “I can’t... I can’t be that for you.”

Bruce looks confused. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t be your dad, I can’t be your father, Bruce,” Clark repeats. He’s not really sure how else to explain it.

Bruce frowns. “But... you said you would be.”

Clark hangs his head. “I know I did and I shouldn’t have. I didn’t want to be your father when you asked but I was afraid of hurting you.” Clark braves a glance at the four year old and his heart breaks. The poor kid looks crushed but Clark has to continue. “I still don’t want to be your father.”

He feels Bruce flinch in his arms at his words and Bruce bows his head too, not looking at Clark. “You don’t want to be my dad?”

Clark swallows the lump in his throat. “No, I don’t want to, I’m sorry.”

Bruce slumps so much in his arms that it’s almost like he became boneless. Clark waits for the water works to start but they don’t come. Instead, Bruce says so quietly that someone without super hearing wouldn’t have heard, “Okay.” Clark is about to ask him if he’s alright, shocked by the easy acceptance, when the kid beats him to speaking. “Can I go to bed now?”

He still doesn’t look at him and Clark nods, getting up and tucking Bruce in. Bruce turns onto his side, back to Clark. “Do you want me to sleep in here?” Bruce shakes his head no and Clark tries not to acknowledge how much that hurts. _He deserves it, doesn’t he?_ “Okay, goodnight Bruce.”

Bruce doesn’t say it back like he normally does and Clark sighs, leaving the room. He closes the door halfway and when he opens his super hearing, he can hear Bruce crying, the child trying to be as quiet as possible. Frowning, Clark debates whether or not he should go back in the room and try to comfort Bruce but in the end he decides not to. He supposes if Bruce wanted that he would have cried in front of him. Clark goes to the couch and quickly changes into his own pajamas and lies down. He falls asleep about an hour later.

...

Despite sleeping out in the living room on the couch, he still wakes up in time to get ready for work. He can hear his alarm going off in his room and briefly wonders if Bruce is grumbling about it yet. He probably is. Clark goes to the room and pushes the door open, planning to get Bruce up now and then just get ready together like they did yesterday. Plus, Clark’s clothes are in his room still and he needs to shut the alarm off since Bruce doesn’t know how. Only, when he steps into the room, the bed is empty.

Clark feels his heart jump up in speed but tries not to worry. “Bruce?” He calls out, going to shut the alarm off. There’s no answer. “Are you hiding from me?” Clark stops and stands there, listening without and then with super hearing. He doesn’t hear anything and Clark’s heart speeds up more. “Bruce?” He quickly goes to the dresser and uses speed to change into some clothes. He then checks the drawer he put Bruce’s clothes in. They’re still there but yet again, it’s too high for Bruce to reach anyway. Clark sees the Superman plushie on the floor in the corner, as if it was thrown, but doesn’t see Ace or Batman anywhere. Rushing into the living room, he finally notices his briefcase is missing and so are Bruce’s coloring books and crayons. He decides to x-ray the apartment then but still finds nothing.

Clark tries not to panic. _How did he sneak out? How come he didn’t hear him? He always hears things like that whether he’s sleeping or not. Where could he have gone? When did he leave and how far did he get?_ Clark’s rushing thoughts abruptly stop, three terrifying thoughts popping into his head to dominate the rest. _What if someone took him? What if the_ magicians _took him. What if..._ Clark swallows. _What if he’s dead?_

Clark bolts out of the apartment, up the stairs, and to the roof. He’s changed into Superman within seconds and takes to the skies. He doesn’t know how long it’ll take to find him, and he refuses to believe he won’t find him, but he can’t be bothered to call Perry to tell him he won’t be in today. To hell with his job, Bruce is much more important. His heart is pounding in his chest and ears and Clark tries to drown it out in order to listen to the whole city of Metropolis. _What if he’s no longer in Metropolis?_ When Clark can’t hear him in the city, he broadens his hearing. _What if he’s dead? No, he’s not dead, he can’t be. But what if he_ is _?_ Clark feels like puking.

Touching his ear, he opens the line of the com-link to every Justice League member. “Guys, I can’t find Bruce.” There’s panic in his voice and he tries to swallow but the lump is back in his throat.

“What do you mean you can’t find Bruce?” John asks.

“Meaning exactly what I said,” Clark snaps and pinches the bridge of his nose. “He ran away when I was asleep. I don’t know why I didn’t hear him and now he’s gone and I can’t hear him to find him. What if he’s-” His voice cracks and the threat to hurl is very real at this point.

“Okay, calm down Kal,” Diana’s voice.

“Diana’s right, we need to think about this calmly,” Wally’s voice says in his ear.

“It’s all my fault.” Clark has to land because he’s starting to get dizzy. Hunching over, he tries to throw up whatever is in his stomach, which isn’t much to begin with, but he’s never been able to throw up before and now isn’t any different. “Guys, we _need_ to find him. He’s only four and can’t protect himself like he can as an adult. Anyone could take him.” Clark’s mind flashes to the guy at the park yesterday. He tries to throw up again with no avail.

“Okay, we’ll meet you at the Watchtower,” J’onn says and then everyone closes the line except for Diana.

“Don’t worry, Kal, we’ll find him and he’ll be fine.” She, too, then closes the line on her com-link.

Taking a deep breath and trying to listen again for Bruce, he heads straight to the Watchtower, flying as fast as he can without causing property damage. When he arrives, only Shayera and John are there, having had monitor duty. Shayera brings Clark to the conference room while John works on beaming everyone up once they’re ready. Clark paces as he waits, changing his hearing to the whole Earth. Still, he can’t hear him.

He stops pacing when Wally super speeds in and then Diana, J’onn, and John follow. “Okay, when did you see him last?” Shayera asks.

“Last night when I put him to bed,” Clark answers.

“I will try to telepathically find him.” J’onn’s eyes then start to glow. Clark starts to pace again.

“I don’t get it,” Wally begins. “I thought the little guy liked spending time with you Supes. He was even super clingy to you. So why would he run away?”

Clark stops in mid stride and stares at them. Shame falls upon him and he has to hang his head because he can’t stand looking at them. He presses the palm of his hands against his eyes. “Because I told him I wasn’t going to be his father.”

“What?” It’s a chorus of disbelief from all four members, only J’onn being excluded.

Clark stumbles back, hitting the round table behind him which then rips out of its bolts in the floor and slides against the floor before Clark catches it and holds it in place in order for him to lean against it. _This is all his fault. Why did he think it was a good idea to tell Bruce such a thing? How cruel could he be?_ “I told him I didn’t want to be his father. Oh, gosh, what have I done?” He gets off the table and presses his palms against his eyes again, trying to stave off the tears that are coming. _If something has happened to him..._

“Kal,” Diana comes up to him and places a hand on his shoulder but he moves away from it. “Kal-” She’s cut off by John.

“Why did you tell him that in the first place?” He sounds angry and Clark honestly doesn’t blame him. “You saw how happy he was to have you be his dad.”

Shayera walks up beside him. “I have to agree with John.”

John crosses his arms over his chest. “I thought we already discussed this. He’s not going to think of you as a family when he gets turned back. That’s nonsense so I don’t even know why you felt the need to tell him such a thing.”

“Because _I_ wasn’t comfortable with it.” Clark’s anger rises in his chest. “You try having Shayera de-aged and her wanting _you_ to be her father. When you know how it feels then you can start judging me and my decisions.” Clark mimics John’s stance and crosses his arms. “ _None_ of you know how this feels. How it feels to have the person that you are crushing on, the person you _love_ , wanting you to be their father. What else am I supposed to feel, John? Relief? Happiness?” Clark scoffs.

“Either way you should have sucked it up and dealt with it like an adult.” Clark’s fists clench and he has to use almost all his strength not to punch John square in the face.

He steps up close to him and gets in his face. “Like an _adult_? I didn’t see any of _you_ offering to take care of him.” He snarls at the man in front of him. “I was thrust into taking care of a four year old version of the man I love when I have _no clue_ how to take care of a child. I haven’t been perfect but I also think I’ve been doing a pretty damn good job so far. Fuck you for saying I haven’t been acting like an adult. Fuck you for implying that I don’t give a damn about Bruce’s feelings. Fuck _you_ for judging a decision that I had a hard enough time making when you have _no clue_ how I’m feeling about this whole thing. _You_ weren’t there when Batman and I were outnumbered by magicians, _you_ weren’t there when they _hurt him_ , _you_ _weren’t there_ when they dragged him out of that cage, stripped him bare, and brought him back as a scared little child. _Fuck you._ ”

All of them are staring at him, surprised that he swore, surprised that he got so up close to John in order to defend himself, and surprised at the way he defended himself in general. Clark is so angry that he’s shaking and he has to turn away from all of them in order to not heat vision John’s stupid, angrily narrowed, eyes. This isn’t the time to be arguing, they need to find Bruce.

“Guys, this isn’t the time to be doing this,” Wally voices what Clark is thinking. “We need to make finding Bruce our priority instead of playing the blame game.”

“I agree with Wally.” J’onn finally comes out of his trance of trying to find Bruce.

“Anything?” Clark rushes up to him and is crestfallen when the Martian shakes his head. “What are we going to do n-” Clark cuts off and tilts his head in the direction of the noise he just heard. It’s faint but it’s there.

“Kal?” Diana asks and Clark brings his attention back to his teammates.

“I think I found him.” He begins to leave.

“We’ll be right behind you.” He hears Diana yell after him but he doesn’t care. Whoever took Bruce, Clark is so angry he’s sure he’ll be enough to handle them, at least if they aren’t the mages. Clark flies, not even really concerned if the Javelin can keep up or not, and heads towards the warehouse he can hear Bruce’s muffled cries in. He lands just outside one of the cargo doors and the Javelin lands behind him. Clark waits for the others to get out but that’s it. As soon as Diana flies out of the Javelin, he barges in.

There’s about ten men, all regular people, and when the cargo door falls to the ground from Superman angrily punching it, they stand and stare. Fear flashes in their eyes when they see the whole Justice League but Clark doesn’t care about that either. He walks up to one of them, the rest trying to flee but his team members surround them, and Clark lifts the man by the collar. “Where is he?”

The guy cowards in his grasp but still holds his ground. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

Clark narrows his eyes and brings the guy close to his face. “The four year old boy. Where is he?” The guy’s eyes flash to a door leading to an office Clark guesses. Clark knocks him out with a flick to the forehead and starts for the door, having confidence that the others will take care of the rest of the men. He punches the office door open too.

What he sees only makes his anger stronger. There, sitting in the middle of the room with his legs bound to a chair and his arms tied behind him also attached to the chair, is Bruce. Tears are streaming down his face and he’s gagged but when Bruce sees Clark, Clark can visibly see him brighten up. “Don’t move.” Clark looks from Bruce’s face, which flashes back to being scared, to the gun, to the man holding the gun; the man that was in the park yesterday. _The sleaze ball!_ “Don’t move or else I’ll shoot him.” He presses the gun to Bruce’s temple. “Even you, Superman, can’t stop a bullet at point blank.”

Clark snarls. “If you hurt him you will be in a world of trouble and there _will be_ hell to pay.”

“You see Superman, I’m not afraid because I have the upper hand.” The guy looks behind Clark when the others come up to join him.

“I’ll say it again,” Clark warns, growling the words out. “If you hurt him, I _will_ hurt you back and won’t hold back either.”

“Kal,” Diana warns quietly but Clark ignores her.

“Drop the gun,” he says to the man who scoffs. The next thing Clark knows is that he hears the trigger being pushed down and Clark is off even before Wally can realize what the man is about to do. Clark speeds to him and knocks the gun out of his hand not so gently and then grabs his wrist. He twists it until he hears a crack and the man screams. “I told you not to hurt him.”

Clark pulls his fist back, ready to knock some teeth out, when Diana stops him again. “Superman!”

He stops, his fist a mere inch away from the guy’s face. Staring at him for a second longer, he knocks him out, also with a flick to the forehead. He then turns to Bruce and quickly takes the gag off and unties him. “Superman!” Bruce wraps his arms around Clark’s neck and Clark lifts him up to hold him close.

“You’re okay Bruce, you’re okay now.” He rubs Bruce’s back as he cries into his shoulder.

...

They’re all in the medical bay, waiting for J’onn to finish his evaluation of Bruce. The Justice League ended up dropping the men that took Bruce at the police station where they will be dealt with accordingly. Now, as they stand in the medical bay, Clark can see the red mark and split lip Bruce got from being slapped, but other than that he can’t see anything else wrong, even with his x-ray vision. “Did they hurt you?” Clark asks as J’onn continues to look over the results to the tests he administered.

“They hit me,” Bruce states.

“Did they do anything else to you?” Bruce’s face forms into a look of confusion. “Did they...” He looks to the others but they don’t look like they are interested in asking the question just as much as Clark is. “Did they touch you inappropriately anywhere? Did they do anything that is inappropriate to you?”

Bruce shakes his head. “No.”

Clark sighs in relief. “Good.”

“Everything seems to be fine besides Bruce being a little shaken up,” J’onn then says, setting the clipboard down.

Clark nods, once again relieved. “Can we go home then?”

“I don’t want to go with you.” Clark turns to Bruce, feeling the hurt edge its way into his chest.

He pauses to compose himself. “What do you mean?”

Bruce shrugs, not looking him in the eye. “I don’t want to live with you anymore.”

John huffs a laugh mockingly. “Serves you right,” he says under his breath and Clark starts to get angry again. It’s only ten in the morning and he’s already had the worst, most enraging day, ever.

“John enough,” Shayera reprimands her boyfriend and John crosses his arms in defiance. Clark shoots him daggers with his eyes.

“Why?” He asks more harshly than he had planned. Bruce only shrugs again. “And who do you think you’re going to live with?”

Bruce looks up to look at the rest of the Justice League. “I want to go with Wally.”

Wally stiffens and shoots Clark a wary glance. Clark continues to stare at Bruce, his anger coming back, and notices he too, has his arms crossed. “I... guess you can come and live with me kiddo,” the speedster says hesitantly.

“And how are you going to watch him?” Clark turns his angry glare onto Wally and the poor kid flinches. “Even if you stopped going on League missions you still have your civilian job. Wally, you work in a lab that is full of chemicals and isn’t safe for a child. There’s also no way in hell you’ll be sending him off to a daycare or babysitter.” He turns back to Bruce who is now glaring at him in return. Clark is once again reminded of adult Bruce and it only feeds Clark’s anger. “The answer is no.”

“Then I’ll go with John,” Bruce counters.

“Me?” John takes a step back in surprise. “I don’t think I’m the right choice kid, sorry.” _The freaking hypocrite._

Something comparable to hurt flashes on Bruce’s face until it’s covered up with other emotions such as annoyance. “You’re also not going with Diana or Shayera because they spend most of their time here anyways. The only other person logical to take you is J’onn since he’s the only one of us who has actually had a kid.” Clark shoots him a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry for bringing up painful memories, J’onn.”

Bruce looks to J’onn hopefully but Clark already knows the answer J’onn is going to give to that look before he can even say it. “It is alright but I’m sorry, Kal-El, but I don’t know the first thing about raising a human child.”

Bruce’s face drops and Clark can literally see the moment of defeat on the kid’s face. Clark feels a little bad but he’s angry and he doesn’t want Bruce going with anyone else but him. If he has to be a little manipulative to do it, then fine. _Isn’t that what Batman would do?_ Clark isn’t so sure. “Then it’s settled, you’re coming with me whether you want to or not.”

Clark then picks up the four year old and the screaming and kicking commences. “I don’t want to go with you!” Bruce kicks with all the strength of a four year old and Clark wonders if he’s hurting himself. Clark hopes not. “Put me down! I don’t want to go!” He screams and cries all the way to the teleportation tubes and all the way to Clark’s bedroom once they’re home where Clark deposits the petulant child onto the bed.

Clark places his hands onto his hips. "You can sit there for ten minutes as punishment for running away. You are not to move from this spot."

Bruce crosses his arms. "No."

Clark takes a deep breath. "Every refusal to do what you're told adds five minutes to the time. You get that one for free. The next one will bring it up to fifteen minutes of sitting here. If you move from this spot then five minutes is also added and started over as well. Do you understand?" Bruce doesn't say anything and only looks away, arms still crossed. "I think I asked you something. Do you understand?"

"Yes." It's small and has a tone of defiance in it but Clark lets it pass.

"You know, Bruce, you're lucky I'm not punishing you for screaming, hitting, and kicking me." Clark walks to the door. "Don't think about moving. You might have been able to sneak by me one time but don't think you'll be able to again. I'll hear you and that's guaranteed." Clark then leaves the room, confident that he got across who is boss over who and that Bruce will listen to the rules set in place for his punishment. Clark decides to call into work and tell Perry that he's going to be late. Clark really doesn't want to stay in his apartment all day with an angry mini-Batman and could really use the distraction that work brings. Perry isn't happy about him coming in late but he eventually acquiesces and lets it pass with a warning to not let it happen again. They both know that won't happen but Perry needs to be able to feel like the strict boss he portrays. Clark then uses the rest of the ten minutes that he had to finish getting ready for work in super speed. Walking into his bedroom, he pulls out some clothes for Bruce and throws them onto the bed. "Get dressed."

Bruce picks up the pile of clothes and throws them onto the floor. "No."

Clark grabs them from the floor and places them onto the bed again. "Five minutes added." He goes to the door. "I can do this all day if I have to, Bruce." The next time he goes back to the room, Bruce is all dressed. Clark helps him with his sneakers and then with the rest of getting ready. As they are walking down the sidewalk, Clark holding Bruce's hand, Bruce continuously tries to pull out of Clark's hand and claw his way out of the grasp. He does this until they are halfway to the _Daily Planet_ and then Clark has had enough. "That's it." Clark bends down and picks Bruce up, who immediately starts to refuse by pushing at his chest and telling him to put him down. "Bruce, stop refusing or else I will turn around and you'll be sitting on the bed for another ten minutes." That makes the child stop struggling and just lets Clark carry him. Satisfied, he continues to the _Daily Planet_ building.

He goes inside and takes the elevator up to his floor. Stepping off the elevator, Lois walks up to him. "You're late Smallville." She smiles at Bruce. "Good morning kid."

"Morning," Bruce says quietly.

Lois looks concerned. "Hey what's wrong?"

"Bad morning." Clark says in a flat tone. He places Bruce down when he reaches his desk and hands him his coloring book and crayons. Clark refused to allow him to bring Ace or the Batman plushie as further punishment but he also didn't want the child to be bored.

Clark sits at his desk as Bruce sits on the floor about three feet away from him and doesn't open his coloring. Lois comes up close to him. "How did he get that cut on his lip?"

She sounds concerned, almost like she's afraid Clark had hit him but that would be ridiculous. When has Clark Kent ever shown a violent bone in his body? Still, the two of them are clearly unhappy with each other so, as annoying as Lois' concern is, Clark supposes it's justified. "He fell on the playground yesterday."

Lois leans back against his desk, accepting that answer. "What's got the two of you angry at each other?"

Clark sighs. "I told him he couldn't run on the playground structure anymore. It didn't sit well with him." Clark looks at Lois' disbelieving face. "You know how four year old's are. Ever since, he's been acting like a brat and won't listen to me."

Lois sighs and rounds his desk to sit at hers. "The joys of raising a child." Clark hums in agreement and then starts to work, leaving Bruce to either entertain himself with the coloring or to sit there and be bored. An hour and a half later, it's lunchtime, and Lois walks up to him. "Let's go to lunch."

“I don’t want to go with him.” Clark looks over to Bruce, who has yet to even touch the coloring book and is pouting. _Stubborn child from a stubborn man._

Clark stands up. “Bruce you’re coming.”

“No.” Bruce continues to sit there and doesn’t move.

Clark tries to control his anger by closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. “Fine, you can stay here. I’ll have Perry watch you.”

Crossing his arms, Bruce says, “Fine.”

“Clark,” Lois steps between the two. “Don’t be so hard on him. He is just a kid.” She then goes over to Bruce and kneels down in front of him. “Bruce, don’t you want to come eat lunch with me?”

Bruce looks at her. “Yeah but not with Clark.”

She smiles sympathetically at him. “Sorry buddy but he’s kind of part of the package.” She smiles more warmly now and Clark never even knew that kind of smile could be given by one Lois Lane. “I would really like you to come... Please?”

Bruce eyes her and then relaxes. “Okay, I’ll come.”

Lois straightens up and goes over to Clark while Bruce gets up as well. “Grew up taking care of my little sister. You learn a few things here and there.” She then goes back to Bruce, grabs his hand, and starts to guide the two of them out of the building. They end up just down the street at this small little restaurant where Clark gets a tuna sandwich, Lois gets a cheese burger, and Bruce gets a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He’s eating slowly and Clark is wondering if he’s doing it on purpose. “Hey,” Lois says as soon as Bruce is done eating. “Why don’t you go and get one of those bouncy balls?” Lois motions to one of the dispenser machines that hold the small bouncy balls while handing Bruce a quarter. The child slips out of the booth after a quick thank you and heads to the machine. Lois then turns on Clark. “You guys were so happy together just yesterday to the point of clinginess from Bruce. I have a hard time believing that telling him he can’t run on the playground structure brought all this on.”

Clark shrugs. “He’s a stubborn child and likes to get his way.” Clark looks back at Bruce who is turning the dial on the dispenser. “Plus, maybe he’s missing his parents.”

Another sympathetic smile forms on his colleague’s face at Clark’s not quite a lie answer. “I wouldn’t blame him. Growing up with a dad in the military made me understand how it feels to miss parents.”

That’s when Bruce comes back up. “Lois, look!” Bruce holds up the bouncy ball that he got. It’s black with blue lightning bolts going all around it.

Lois takes it in order to look at it more closely. “It’s nice. Do you like it?”

“Yeah!” Bruce takes it back, not even bothering to let Clark look at it. After Clark pays the bill, they leave, Bruce once again holding onto Lois’ hand. Soon, the work day is done. Bruce had been bad all day, not listening to Clark and refusing to do something that Clark asked of him until Lois stepped in and asked as well. He was rude and defiant the whole time Clark was working and the behavior only served to keep Clark’s anger there and on the surface. “Lois, can I go with you?”

Lois laughs with amusement. “Sorry kid but you have to go with Clark.”

Bruce grows sullen. “But I don’t want to.”

Clark ignores what he says and picks him up. “Say goodbye.”

“Put me down first,” Bruce negotiates and Clark isn’t sure he likes this part of Bruce’s personality leaking through.

“No.” Clark keeps a hold of the child. “You either say goodbye now or you don’t at all.”

“Fine then I won’t say it.” Bruce doesn’t look at Clark.

Lois gives him another sympathetic look for the hundredth time today before going up to Bruce. “Give Clark a break okay, kid? He’s doing the best he can.” She ruffles his hair. “See ya kid.” She then walks away, shooting Clark one last sympathizing look over her shoulder.

On their walk home Clark lectures Bruce. “You were very bad today Bruce.”

“I don’t care,” Bruce says.

“Do you want to sit on the bed for ten minutes again, is that it?” Clark asks. Bruce doesn’t answer. “You don’t act like this. I’m the adult and I’m the one in charge of you. You don’t back talk, you don’t tell me no, you don’t not listen, do you understand?” Bruce still doesn’t answer. “I asked if you understood and you better answer me,” Clark asks once again, more sternly this time.

Bruce kicks his stomach. “I don’t care what you say.”

Clark stops dead in his tracks. _He’s only four, he’s only four, he’s only four._ If it was adult Bruce then Clark would have a better idea of how to handle a situation like this but since he’s currently four, Clark has no idea how to stop this. Clark is angry and hurt, along with feeling guilty. It doesn’t help that it would seem the whole Justice League is ganging up on him during this whole thing. Clark takes a deep breath and continues to walk. The rest of the journey home is made in silence, only being interrupted when Clark goes to McDonalds and picks up some food. It’s not the healthiest thing in the world but Clark isn’t in the mood to make anything to eat. The two of them also eat in silence.

Clark has to help Bruce brush his teeth, at one point Bruce trying to bite his finger, and then he has to help him get into his pajamas. He switches the pajamas to the plain ones, last night’s being the Batman one. Clark thinks about not letting Bruce sleep with any of his stuffed toys but then he thinks against it, coming to the conclusion that doing so is going too far. This time around, he doesn’t ask Bruce if he wants him to sleep in the bed with him. He just leaves without saying anything, changing into his own pajamas out in the living room, and then settling onto the couch to watch some late night television, having the feeling he’s not going to be able to sleep.

...

Clark sits there and watches a horrible late night movie that is supposed to be scary but is funny instead. Of course, if one of your jobs is being a superhero who saves the planet from humans and aliens alike, scary movies tend to not scare you anymore. He watches it for the two hours that it runs and then the beginning of the next movie before he feels eyes on him. Turning his head towards the doorway that leads into the hall that occupies the bedroom and bathroom door, he sees Bruce standing there, peeking out from around the corner. "What do you want?" Clark tries to keep the harshness out of his voice and he thinks he did a pretty good job but Bruce still flinches. When the kid doesn't answer and only continues to stand there behind the corner, Clark says, "Well?" Bruce rubs at his eyes and Clark wonders if he's been crying. The child then steps out from behind the corner and finally reveals to Clark what is wrong. The bottom half of his pajamas are soaked, the fabric dark where they are wet. Clark relaxes and sighs then gets up to go over to Bruce. "Come on, let's go."

"I'm sorry." He can barely hear it when Bruce says it but Clark can tell Bruce has been crying as Clark suspected.

"It's okay." They go into the bathroom and Clark runs the bath, filling it, and then helping Bruce out of his pajamas and into the tub. He puts the wet clothes into the hamper. "I'm going to go clean the bed." Bruce's legs are drawn up close to himself and his arms are around his knees. Bruce nods, acknowledging that he heard what Clark said.

Clark goes back into his room and begins to strip the bed. The blanket, sheets, and mattress are all soaked with urine. Clark brings the linens to the washing machine, grabbing Bruce's pajamas on the way, and puts them in, starting it up to wash them right away. He then goes and gets the essentials for cleaning the mattress. Clark gathers up a bucket of cold water, vinegar, baking soda, some detergent, and a cloth in order to dab at the moister. He then goes and gets the vacuum. Clark dabs a mixture of two parts cold water, one part vinegar, and a small amount of detergent onto the mattress where the urine seeped through. He allows this to sit for about ten minutes, checking in on Bruce at one point. After, he dries the spot as best he can until he can sprinkle some baking soda onto the spot without it clumping and making an even bigger mess. Clark allows this to sit for five minutes. He uses the vacuum hose to suck up the baking soda once the five minutes are up. Once all done with that, he uses his breath as a way to dry the mattress completely. He then puts more sheets onto it and another comforter, making a mental note to buy a waterproof mattress protector later. While cleaning, Clark notices that the Superman stuffed toy is on the floor again.

Clark goes back to the bathtub where Bruce hasn't moved an inch. There are tears falling down his face but other than that, the kid is silent. "Let's clean you up. Stand up." Bruce gets up and Clark helps him clean himself, allowing the child to do his own private parts. "Good." Retrieving a towel after draining the tub, Clark wraps it around Bruce's small frame and starts drying him off. He then carries him back to the bedroom. Clark goes to the dresser and digs out the Superman pajamas. It's the only other clean pair he has but Clark knows Bruce isn't going to want to wear them. He tries anyways. "Here, put these on."

Bruce shakes his head, the tears finally having stopped. "I don't want those ones."

Clark looks at him and tries to not let his annoyance show. "It's the only ones you have that you can wear."

"I don't want them." Bruce sounds like he's about to start crying again.

"Why?" Clark asks but before Bruce can answer him, he picks up the stuffed Superman. "And why is this in the corner on the floor?"

Bruce rubs at his eyes, trying to stop the tears that have come back. "I don't want it anymore."

Clark narrows his eyes, his anger from earlier that day coming back full circle. "You know, you're being really mean," he says, sounding much harsher than he wanted.

Bruce continues to cry, clutching at the towel that is still wrapped around him. "I don't care."

Clark's anger rises. "Why? Why do you no longer want anything to do with Superman? Why do you not care about being mean to me?"

Bruce is now hiccupping with his crying, rubbing at his eyes furiously in order to stop the tears that are impossible to stave off. "Because I don't like you anymore."

_Yeah… yeah that hurts._ Bruce starts to cry so hard now that it is impossible for the child to speak and Clark softens, calming down and feeling guilt replace his anger. He gets down onto his hands and knees and crawls to Bruce. Clark pulls the child to him and sits there on the floor with Bruce in his lap and the kid's face in his shoulder. He cups the back of Bruce's head with one hand and rubs his back with the other. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Bruce. I've been being mean too. I didn't mean to hurt you so much." Clark closes his eyes and buries his own face into Bruce's neck. "I'm so, so sorry Bruce."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually do love John despite making him an asshole in this (he's actually my favorite Green Lantern). It's just that I needed someone to be the asshole who challenged Clark and since it couldn't be Bruce for obvious reasons, John was the next best candidate.
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. :)
> 
> Updates will be every Friday. Next update scheduled for: 12/18/15 EST. To see a full list of dates, please go [here](http://angelcamael.tumblr.com/post/132217933841/loss-of-time).


	8. Chapter 8

Bruce ends up crying himself to sleep in Clark's lap and at some point Clark falls asleep as well. He wakes up with the side of Bruce's face pressed into his chest. His alarm is going off but from where they're sitting next to the bed, Clark can't reach it to shut it off. It's been going off for about a half hour now and Clark knows he'll be late for work again but he doesn't care. The alarm hasn't woken the child yet and Clark isn't about to wake him. He lets Bruce sleep as he sits there listening to the morning news, stroking Bruce's hair. It's all in a disarray from the bath and not being styled while wet but Clark doesn't care. He runs his fingers through the locks anyway, giving it some semblance of neatness.

Clark sighs. He's messed everything up. First he agrees to go and try and defeat the mages with just him and Batman. That, of course, blew up completely in his face. Then he tells the poor kid that his parents are either not able to be saved or dead and to top everything off, Clark refuses to be Bruce's father when the child wants one so desperately. Clark sighs again with the immense guilt that he feels and ends up waking up Bruce. _He can't even sigh without doing it wrong._

Bruce rubs at his eyes sleepily. "Clark?"

Clark continues to stroke the boy's hair and whispers, "I'm right here."

Bruce pulls away slightly to look up at him. He frowns and in turn Clark frowns as well. Clark waits for the pulling away, the admissions that he wants nothing to do with Clark or Superman, and the insults. Except they don't come, even after their staring contest reaches the one and a half minute mark. "You really don't want to be my dad?"

Clark frowns even more and shakes his head, looking away from Bruce. "I'm sorry but I can't. I know you don't understand why but it's complicated and difficult to explain." _Especially to the de-aged version of the love of my life._

Bruce looks away as well, thinking, and then back to Clark. "You’re right I don’t understand. Don’t you love me? I love you so why don’t you love me?"

The admission takes Clark aback. He knows Bruce only means that in the most platonic way or at the very least in a familial way, but it still surprises him. "I… of course, I love you Bruce, but it’s more complicated than that."

“But why?” Bruce asks, still looking at him intensely. “If you love me and I love you, why can’t you just be my dad?”

Clark sighs and looks away from those blue eyes. “Bruce…” He sighs again, closing his eyes to will himself to continue. He looks back to the child. “You remember when I said you have the same name as Batman?”

Bruce nods his head. “Yes, his name is Bruce Wayne.”

Clark smiles and runs a hand through the boy’s hair. “Well you see, I… you look a lot like him and then you have the same name and kind of the same attitude… with some things at least.” Clark chuckles to himself as Bruce looks at him all confused. “Bruce, Batman Bruce, I…” He takes a deep breath. “I love him very, very much and when I see you it…” he trails off, not really knowing how to continue.

“It makes you think of him?” Bruce asks and Clark nods. “But that’s stupid, he’s an adult and I’m just a little kid.”

Clark huffs a small laugh. “He would call me stupid too,” he says more to himself but it still causes Bruce to furrow his brow. “Either way… I don’t know, I don’t know how to explain it Bruce.”

“So… because you love him, you can’t love me?” Bruce asks.

“What? No, of course, not,” Clark exclaims. “I do love you Bruce but it’s still… it’s very, very complicated and I can’t explain it to you because it’ll just get more complicated and I wish…” _I wish everything was back to normal._

Bruce is looking down and away from Clark. “I think I get it now, though.” He looks back to Clark. “You’re heart is already filled with someone else, too filled to have any room to be my dad.”

Clark stares at the child. _Of course, he would come to that conclusion._ Clark keeps messing everything up and he really should learn to just keep his mouth shut. “That’s…”

Bruce cuts him off and he’s smiling up at Clark. It looks part way sad as it doesn’t quite reach his eyes but also part way happy. “That’s okay, though, because I’m still going to love you no matter what and eventually you’ll love me enough to want to be with me and be my dad, you’ll see.” Bruce wraps his arms around Clark’s neck and draws him into a hug. “You’ll want to be with me forever.” Clark doesn’t know what to say to this so he doesn’t say anything at all. He’s confused and stunned by the statement but tries not to look into it too much. Bruce pulls away and for once, a real smile graces his face. “Now,” he turns to the direction of the clock and scowls at it. “Can we shut that thing off?” Clark chuckles and slides the child off his lap, hoping they're back to being friends at least.

Clark hands Bruce some clothes after shutting the 'loud, noisy, horrid', as Bruce put it, clock off. He gets dressed along with Clark and then they have a quick breakfasts before Clark and Bruce are rushing towards the _Daily Planet_. It's almost as if they never even got into an argument and that they were back to the way it was before. Clark is happy about this but the whole thing has made Clark want Bruce to be turned back to an adult as soon as possible. He's going to have to see if J'onn can get Zatanna to hurry or maybe push up Dr. Fate's schedule in order for him to do whatever spell is needed sooner. Either way, he needs the reversal spell to happen very soon.

At the _Daily Planet_ , Lois is happy to see them getting along again. "Glad to see you two worked out whatever was going on." Clark opens his mouth to reiterate the playground fiasco again but she stops him. "And I don't believe that playground nonsense for one minute, Smallville."

Clark smiles sheepishly. "Sorry, Lois, but that's what happened."

She sits down at her desk. "Uh huh."

Bruce walks up to him, Superman plushie clutched in his hand. "Up." He lifts his arms in order to indicate to Clark that he wants to be picked up and put in Clark's lap.

Clark lifts him and settles him in his lap with a chuckle. "Bossy aren't we." Bruce smiles back at him and press his back into Clark's chest, getting comfortable.

The day goes by smoothly, Clark being called into Perry's Office at one point to be talked about being late, again, and Clark plays the bumbling Clark Kent persona up and stumbles his way through the conversation. He promises, once again, to never be late again and then is sent back to his desk. Bruce didn't have a fit when he left this time like all the other times and Clark wonders about it to himself. He's not sure if it's something he should be worried about or not so he decides to keep an eye on the kid. It could be something as simple as Bruce finally understanding the meaning of alone time or it could be something as complicated as Bruce being traumatized from the kidnapping. After all, it would be his second time being taken as far as Bruce knows. However, Clark has a hard time believing that something like that would make him not as clingy. If anything it should cause the opposite. Unless it has nothing to do with those two theories at all and it has everything to do with the whole father fiasco. Clark has a feeling that is the most likely of causes and his guilt rises once again.

"Kal?" Clark doesn't react to Diana's voice in his ear. Instead he uses his cell phone discretely to call his office phone and then answers it while secretly pressing the com-link in his ear in order to open the line.

"Hello?" Clark says.

"Kal," Diana says again. "I know you're at work but I thought I should inform you that there is an alien force coming straight to Earth. The rest of us are preparing to attack if they are deemed an aggressor."

Clark swallows. "The magicians?" He asks a little quieter.

"We aren't sure. The spacecraft isn't what you described it as," Diana answers.

Clark taps the receiver with his index finger and pulls Bruce a little closer to him. The child looks at him quizzically. "But it could be them?"

Diana pauses and then says, "There is always a possibility, yes. We are certainly taking that into account."

"I should be there." Clark would have stood if Bruce wasn't on his lap.

"No, Kal," Diana states firmly. "You are weak against magic and you need to stay with Bruce." She then sighs. "And like I said, we don't even know if they are them."

"Okay say it isn't them, then," Clark begins. "What if the... visitors, are too uh..." He wants to say strong but Clark has to remember to stay discreet. "much for all of you? You need me."

"Remember who you're talking to." There's a smile of amusement laced in her voice. "Don't worry, Kal, we'll stick with the plan. You stay with Bruce and if we really need you then we will call you." There's another pause. "I have to go, Kal."

Clark hangs up both his desk phone and his cell phone and then frowns. "Clark?" Clark looks down at Bruce who is looking up at him worriedly. "Are you alright?"

Clark forces a smile and runs his fingers through Bruce's hair. "Yeah, I'm fine." At Bruce's frown, Clark adds. "There's nothing to worry about."

Then, as if karma is out to bite Clark in his ass for the whole not wanting to be Bruce’s dad thing, there's a big booming voice calling out into the floor. "Lane!"

"Yes Chief?" is the immediate reply.

"The Justice League are fighting some kind of aliens from space and they seem to be pretty strong too. Take Jimmy and go cover it." Perry rubs his chin and adds almost like an afterthought, "It seems like all of them are there except Batman and Superman."

Clark swallows again and continues to rub Bruce's hair as the child looks up at him with concern. "That's what's wrong?"

Clark looks down at him and nods. "Yeah, that's what is wrong."

...

Someone in the department ended up turning on the TV and changing it to one of the many news stations that are covering the fight between aliens and Justice League. The aliens seem to be a type of mammal and have two arms and two legs. Each of the aliens have six eyes that are set deep within the sockets and Clark wouldn’t be surprised if they could see extremely well. With so many eyes, it is making it very difficult for the Justice League to find openings to take them out. To add to that, they also have long, wide ears that make their hearing phenomenal. The aliens also have big mouths and thin noses, their skin ranging from dark grey to light grey to a silvery grey that seems to shine in the sunlight and little hair. To top it all off, they can fly.

Clark has never seen them before and seeing the Justice League struggle to fight and defeat them is worrying him. He’s watching the TV as well as trying to keep Bruce occupied so he doesn’t see the violent fighting. The poor kid has seen enough violence for one de-aged lifetime. Problem is that distracting Bruce Wayne, de-aged or not, Bruce is still Bruce deep down and especially with older Bruce personality leakage, is extremely difficult to do and Clark keeps finding Bruce watching the TV.

“Where’s Batman?” Bruce asks him on the hundredth time Clark tries to get the child to color the cat in the coloring book.

“I’m not sure,” Clark answers, his focus divided too much to really pay much mind to the blatant lie.

Bruce squirms, ignoring Clark’s plea to begin coloring and continues to stare at the TV screen. “Shouldn’t he be there? What if something happened to him?”

Bruce looks genuinely concerned so Clark tries to think of something to placate hm. “I’m sure he’s fine. If he wasn’t I would be able to hear. He’s probably just busy and would help if he could.”

“Are you sure?” Bruce turns his worried eyes onto him.

Clark nods. “I’m positive.” He messes up Bruce’s hair. “He’s fine, trust me.”

Bruce takes another second to watch Clark before turning back to the TV.  At this point, Clark gives up on his attempts to shift Bruce’s focus over to the coloring book and off the fight. He goes back to watching the TV himself. He can tell the Justice League is losing just by what the news station is showing but Clark doesn’t know what to do. Diana or the others have yet to call him over to help and plus, Clark has Bruce he needs take care of. But... _the League needs me._

“Bruce?” Bruce looks up at him, worry set back into his features and he’s shaking his head before Clark even finishes talking. “I need to go help.” Before Bruce can protest, Clark continues. “Look at them, they are super strong and though the Justice League has other strong members besides me and I’m not saying they can’t handle something without me, in this case they _do_ need me. One extra strong person could be the thing that is just enough to tip the scale onto the Justice League’s favor.” Clark takes Bruce’s face into his hands and stares into his eyes. “Do you understand?” Bruce hesitates but eventually nods, looking frightened for not only the Justice League members but also Clark. “Good.”

Clark then sneaks out of the office while everyone is entranced in the fight being broadcast and flies to his apartment. The fight isn’t in Metropolis, though not too far from it either, but Clark doesn’t know what else to do. He can’t have someone at the office watch Bruce because not only does he not know what will happen if something goes wrong, but also he can’t risk that person’s life if this does have something to do with the magicians. All he can hope for is that the fight won’t spill into Metropolis and if it does, it’ll steer clear of his apartment. Once changed into his Superman costume, he kneels in front of Bruce. “You going to save the day now?”

Clark nods. “Yes I am.” He pulls Bruce in tightly to his chest and squeezes him in a hug. Once parted he turns a serious gaze onto the child. “Bruce listen to me. You’re going to be here alone.” A flash of fear crosses Bruce’s face. “I need you to promise me that you’ll stay here.”

“I promise to stay here and stay out of trouble,” Bruce says.

Clark nods in approval. “I need you to promise one more thing.” Bruce nods. “If something goes wrong,” Clark pulls out one of the emergency watches that he gives to important people including all of the Justice League. Adult Bruce already has one but it’s in his utility belt that is back up in the Watchtower where Clark left it. “I want you to press this button, okay?” Clark demonstrates quickly. “Anything at all. If someone comes in here, like one of those aliens, or one of those people from that place I rescued you from, the one in which we had to ride in the plane to get away from them, anything, especially if it’s something dangerous, you press that button and I’ll come right away.” Clark forgoes adding ‘if he can’, feeling like that would just make the situation worse. “If you can’t, for whatever reason, press that button, then you scream my name, whether it be Clark or Superman, I don’t care, at the top of your lungs and I’ll also come right away.”

“What if I can’t do either?” Bruce asks, eyeing the device.

“I’ll be listening so you kick, punch, do whatever you can to make even the slightest amount of noise, and I’ll know something is wrong,” Clark answers.

Bruce nods in understanding. “Then you’ll come right away.”

“Yes.” Clark smiles at him and hears with his super hearing Diana’s grunt of pain. He stands. “I have to go now.”

He’s almost to the window that leads out to his balcony when he hears Bruce’s footsteps rushing up to him. Clark then feels a tug at his cape. “Wait, don’t go!” Bruce says urgently. Clark turns around to look at the kid, wondering what happened to change his mind to let Clark go all of a sudden. “What if you die?”

Clark wasn’t expecting that question and kneels again. He cups Bruce’s face in his hands, wishing he could erase that worried, fearful look away. “I won’t die,” he says simply. “I promise.” It doesn’t get rid of the look on Bruce’s face but it does get the child to let go of his cape. Clark then leans forward and kisses Bruce’s forehead. “I’m coming back.” Letting go, he looks at Bruce one more time before flying off.

...

Clark arrives onto the scene of the fight just in time to block an attack aimed at John. “Superman, what are you doing here?”

He turns and glares at the man, still angry at their earlier encounter. “You’re welcome.” Clark then flies off to help Shayera who is trying to fight two aliens at the same time. He takes out one and then Shayera takes out the other, Shayera giving a quick thanks before moving on.

“Thra Drivthumeom rok orreqad!” (translation: The Kryptonian has arrived!) Clark looks up to the voice and sees one of the aliens. He’s not sure what they said, the language not being one that he’s ever heard of, but he’s sure it’s not good since all the aliens stop what they are doing and look towards him.

“Bahurp da uraraub shaw?” (translation: Shall we attack him?) another one says and to Clark it almost sounds as if they asked a question.

The one that spoke first answers, confirming Clark’s suspicion of the second one asking a question. “Baqar gakshraaxik rasha urasharb. Rashar darp birapor kara ax rasha dur. A darp rauba ura ug rasha Drivthumeom.” (translation: Keep fighting the others. They will surely get in the way. I will take care of the Kryptonian.) _There’s that word again._

All at once, all the aliens answer the first one who must be in charge. “Avok, ba Kada.” (translation: Yes, my Lady.)

The leader of the aliens looks straight into Clark’s eyes once done giving orders and says, “Kour rouudy ru rakh Drivthumeom.” (translation: Get ready to fight Kryptonian.) _So that word has something to do with him._

“I... I don’t understand what you are saying,” Clark tries but he’s not even sure if these aliens even understand English.

The leader scrutinizes him for a long while until a smirk forms on their face. “I said, get ready to fight, Kryptonian.” The leader then charges after him, being much faster than Clark had anticipated.

The alien body slams into his and knocks him back a few yards, punching him in the face. The punch hurt and Clark looks up at the figure floating just in front of him. The alien’s hand has some kind of electricity flowing around it. “What... what is that?”

The alien smirks again. “We’ve heard through the rumor mill that Kryptonians subjected to a yellow sun are weak against magic.” _Magic!_ “So we learned how to use it.” She attacks again, except this time faster and stronger. Clark falls to the ground from the strength of the punch she lands on his chest, hitting the ground hard enough to cause a crater in the road, and groans.

Opening his eyes, he sees Diana trying to fight his attacker, defending him. “You alright Supes?” Clark turns his head to see Wally beside him, looking concerned even with the mask on.

_Magic... magic... Bruce!_ Clark doesn’t answer and opens his hearing to Bruce. He can hear the little boy in his apartment, safe and watching the news on the TV. Clark should have told him not to watch it but he doubts the kid would have listened to him anyways. “I’m... I’m fine Flash.” The speedster helps him get up and to his feet. Clark stumbles back some, feeling dizzy. _What did they do to me?_

“Whoa.” Wally catches him by the shoulder. “You sure you’re alright?”

Clark nods. “Yeah.” He begins to fly back up. “Be careful Flash, these guys are strong.” Wally solutes him and then runs off, allowing Clark to fly back up to where Diana was fighting the leader, the Amazonian getting thrown into a building. “What do you want?” He’s scared their after Bruce. _Maybe they were sent by those mages._

The leader shrugs. “I don’t know, I like a challenge and a Kryptonian under a yellow sun certainly is a challenge, even with the magic aspect. Can you blame a bored Queen for wanting some fun?”

“How did you even know about me?” Clark asks, trying to deduce whether or not they are really sent by the mages.

The alien shrugs again, smiling at him. “You’re one of the last Kryptonians from the famous dead planet Krypton. Do you really believe you’re not well known? Many know who you are, Kryptonian, after all, you’re quite famous for surviving Krypton’s destruction.” She looks him up and down. “At least a lot more famous than those other Kryptonians that survived.” _Kara!_ Clark shifts his hearing from Bruce to Kara quickly, hearing that she is perfectly fine and currently milking the cows on his parents’ farm. _Zod and his possé are in the Phantom Zone and Clark really doesn’t care what happens to them anyways so then that just leaves... Kon._ Clark then listens for Kon, not really sure if they would attack him because he’s only a clone and half Kryptonian, but he wants to make sure just to be safe. He, too, is safe and at the moment at the fortress training. “Don’t worry, we’re not here for the other Kryptonians. We’re only here for you.”

He goes back to listening to Bruce. _Maybe they aren’t sent from the magicians._ Clark takes the first initiative in attacking, flying towards the alien, Clark now knowing that _she_ is a queen and so definitely the leader. He punches her hard in the jaw, causing her to grunt from the impact and pain, falling backwards. She recovers quickly though, and counters with her own magic infused punch. When Clark regains his bearings, she pulls out a sword type looking weapon. The lightning type magic that was around her hand transfers to being around the sword.

Clark’s jaw drops. _How is he going to fight that?_ Clark dodges a swing of the sword and almost falls to the ground when he loses his flying ability for a second. _What’s going on?_ Clark flies backwards a ways away from her and looks around. _Are they infusing magic into the air?_ He’s having a hard time keeping afloat and barely dodges a stab of the sword to his abdomen while concentrating on not plummeting to the ground. _He has to land!_ Just as he thinks the thought, something hard and painful hits his head and he barely registers Bruce’s gasp of alarm. Hitting the ground hard and painfully again, he groans, trying to concentrate on figuring out if Bruce is in danger or not. He can’t hear anything in the apartment besides Bruce, his heartbeat rapid in his chest due to the concerned fear he is feeling, and guesses the camera to whatever news station Bruce is watching is on him and that is what caused Bruce’s alarm.

The queen lands next to him and lifts him from his uniform. “Giving up?”

He head butts her, which causes black spots to dance in front of his vision but also causes her to let go and stumble back. He says, “Not a chance.”

“Superman!” He looks up in time to just barely catch Shayera’s mace. He’s dizzy and feels like throwing up, like the time Bruce ran away. Clark uses Shayera’s mace to block the sword the queen is using and also uses it to attack her. He manages a blow to the left side of her face, allowing the electricity that the mace produces to also be on at the time of impact.

When the queen recovers there’s silver blood running down the side of her face. She smirks. “Very good, Kryptonian.”

“Kal-El.” She looks at him confused. “My name is Kal-El and when I defeat you, you can tell everyone that.” He attacks again but she dodges and Clark stumbles again, all of a sudden retching and falling to his knees.

“Not feeling well are you, Kal-El?” She laughs and saunters up to him. Clark is panting and shaking, his stomach turning upside down and causing his nausea to become worse. When she reaches him, she puts her hand on his shoulder and runs it all the way up to his cheek. Clark throws up, the acid burning in his throat. It’s the first time he’s ever thrown up. “Kaakkavo; goodbye, Kal-El.” She raises the sword but just before she can plunge it into his heart, Wally super speed punches her.

She goes flying into the building and Wally turns to him, placing one of Clark’s arms around his shoulder. “Come on, Big Guy.” He helps Clark to his feet.

“Magic... strong magic,” Clark mumbles out. He closes his eyes, willing the world to stop spinning in his vision.

“I know, I’ve been instructed to get you away from here,” Wally explains.

Clark pushes away from him and promptly falls back to his knees, holding himself up by his hands.  “No, you need me.”

Wally rushes up to him. “Not like this.”

“Yes!” Clark snaps. “Yes like this, I’m not leaving you guys.”

Anger flashes onto Wally’s features and it’s something Clark doesn’t see very often. He leans in and whispers into Clark’s ear. “Think about Bruce, how will he feel if you die? I’m getting you out of here.”

When Wally helps him up this time, he doesn’t protest. Just when Wally is about to speed away, however, he’s attacked from behind from one of the alien minions slamming into him. Clark is wrenched from Wally’s grasp and is turned to face the queen. “You’re not going anywhere!”

Clark uses his heat vision on her and she drops him, taking a few steps back. This time, Clark uses all his strength to stay up on his feet. He doesn’t know what happened to Shayera’s mace so he opts to continue using his heat vision. He continues to hit her with it but eventually she blocks it with the sword. Taking the opportunity of her being distracted by blocking with the sword, Clark gathers all his energy and strength and flies towards her. He hits her with more strength than the last time he hit her and continues to do so over and over again. With one last punch, she goes soaring in the air and lands on the ground hard. She’s bloody and bruised, panting hard. Clark stands over her and picks her up by the hem of her outfit. “Giving up?” He repeats what she said to him.

She smirks, her teeth covered in the silver blood. “Well played, Kryptonian. Yes, I give up.” She then turns her head to the side to command her army. “Serrumkur umk rusruus!” (translation: Surrender and retreat!) Clark looks around and sees the other aliens dropping their weapons and retreating back to their spaceship they arrived in. “This was quite fun, Kal-El.” Clark can feel the magic starting to lift and starts to feel better. “You have entertained me quite well, thank you.” Clark lets go of her and she straightens out her outfit. “We will be going now.” She turns around but then stops in her tracks. “Oh and one more thing, Kal-El.” She whirls around and stabs him in the abdomen with the sword that is emanating magic. “Kaakkavo.” (translation: Goodbye.)

She pulls the sword out as he gasps, quickly flying to the spaceship she arrived in, with Diana and Shayera going after her. Clark starts to fall only to land in Wally’s arms. “Superman!”

He sees John and J’onn flying to him but his vision is going black. Just before he passes out he hears one distinctive voice, Bruce’s voice. “Clark!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah... I really suck at writing fight scenes.
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. :)
> 
> Updates will be every Friday. Next update scheduled for: 12/25/15 EST. To see a full list of dates, please go [here](http://angelcamael.tumblr.com/post/132217933841/loss-of-time).


	9. Chapter 9

Clark opens his eyes and blurrily sees the green orb from John’s ring surrounding him. There’s a fiery pain in his stomach as well as some kind of pressure there caused by someone else. “Take it easy Kal, we’re bringing you to the Watchtower.” He looks over to Diana who is leaning over him. It’s then that he realizes that Diana is the one creating that pressure and it’s only because she is trying to stop the bleeding from the wound he obtained by the magic infused sword.

But Clark doesn’t care about that or the pain right now. He can’t get Bruce’s scream of his name out of his head. “Bruce,” he struggles to say, feeling the effort draining him. “Bruce, someone needs to go get Bruce.”

“Don’t worry,” Diana smiles reassuringly to him but Clark really can’t register what she is saying in his fogged up brain. “Wally is going to get him.”

“Bruce, we need to get...” He trails off, trying to stay awake. “Bruce.”

Diana runs a hand through his hair. “You need to stay calm, Kal.”

Blackness is dancing around his vision. “Bruce...” Finally, the dark overcomes him.

...

When he wakes again, he’s finally in the Watchtower’s medical bay being placed onto one of the sun beds. Throughout the bustle of the room and haze that he is in, he can hear two voices, one of them being the most important. “Clark!”

“Bruce, I’m sorry but I can’t let you go in there.” It’s Wally and Clark is relieved that the speedster got to Bruce in time.

“I want to see him!” The child is yelling and Clark can tell by the noises that the little one is thrashing in Wally’s grip. “Clark! Clark!”

Clark tries to sit up, not liking Bruce’s frantic tone. “Bruce, let him in.”

Diana and J’onn are by his side immediately, Diana pressing at his shoulder to try and get him to lie back down. He shrugs it off. “Kal, you need to rest. We’re setting up the sun bed so you can absorb the radiation.”

“No,” he says almost as frantically as Bruce who is just outside the door. “Bruce, you need to let Bruce in.” Clark takes a moment to catch his breath before continuing. “I need to make sure he’s okay.”

“Bruce is perfectly fine,” J’onn informs him.

“But he needs to see me,” Clark pleads, finally succumbing to Diana’s insistence that he lie down. “He needs...” Clark is feeling dizzy and the blackness is back.

“Not like this Kal,” Diana says warmly. “Please, rest. You two can see each other later.”

“But...” Clark shakes. He hears one last yell of his name from Bruce and Shayera along with John and Wally trying to calm the scared and distraught child before falling back into nothingness.

...

This time when Clark wakes up, he’s feeling one hundred times better than he did earlier, feeling refreshed and restored energy coursing through him. The sun light is also off and he has a bundle of a small body lying next to him fast asleep. Clark looks down at the child beside him and smiles, beginning to rub at his hair and feeling relieved and contented to have the small boy beside him, safe and sound. _Bruce._ He kisses the top of Bruce’s head, not knowing what he would have done if he had lost him, especially in this state. _No matter how you are, Bruce, I just love you so much and I can’t lose you._ He continues to run his fingers through Bruce’s hair, enjoying the sound of the child’s steady breathing and heartbeat. His heart beats a little faster than adult Bruce’s but it’s still soothing to Clark.

Clark continues to lie like this, listening and feeling, until there’s a change in Bruce’s breathing and heartbeat. The boy has woken up. Bruce’s grip tightens where he was clutching at Clark’s uniform and he presses a little closer to Clark’s chest, burying his face against the ‘S’. “You promised you wouldn’t die.”

Clark looks at the ceiling but doesn’t stop his petting. “And I didn’t.”

“No,” Bruce sits up, looks him in the eyes. “No, you don’t get to say that. You almost did die and I almost lost you.” Tears are starting to pool in his eyes. “So, no, you don’t get to say that. Not this time.”

Clark reaches up and wipes away the few tears that escaped those beautiful eyes. _He’s been crying a lot lately. Ever since he was de-aged that is. Does adult Bruce feel like this, this often too, but only hides it? Buries it?_ Clark hopes with all his heart that he doesn’t. He doesn’t want his Bat to be so sad. “I know,” Clark responds to what Bruce said. It’s something adult Bruce would say, something similar to something adult Bruce _has_ said to him. He wonders if that kind of response is just part of Bruce’s nature or if it’s another case of adult Bruce leaking through. “I’m sorry.” Clark turns onto his back and Bruce lies down onto his chest, hugging him close. “I seem to keep hurting you,” Clark says quietly.

Bruce sits back up and gives him a quizzical look. “I do too.” Clark looks at him in confusion. “I keep hurting you too.”

Clark is shaking his head and smiling before Bruce even finishes. “No, no you don’t.” Clark pulls Bruce in again and squeezes. “You’re perfect Bruce.”

He can feel Bruce shake his head no. “No I’m not.”

“To me you are.” Clark kisses the top of his head again. “I love you Bruce.”

Bruce turns his head to look at him, leaning his chin on his chest, and beams. “I love you too Clark.” Clark smiles back.

...

"Who were they?" Clark asks. Bruce is sitting on his lap as he refused to leave Clark's side when asked. Wally even tried coaxing him out but the child stubbornly rebuffed the gesture. They're right back to where they were before, with Bruce being clingy and not letting Clark out of his sight. After what happened earlier, Clark really can't blame him for regressing but it kind of saddens him that all that progress is lost now. So instead of trying to correct Bruce about being so clingy again, he just lets it happen, at least for now. Clark pulls Bruce closer to him by his midsection and Bruce leans against his back. _Though Clark has to admit that he's become a little clingy to the kid now too._

"They were Gorganeerians from a planet called Muria in the Beta Encore system," John answers.

Shayera then fills in the rest. "Their planet, called Muria, is warm and Earth like with vast grassland plains. It also has no axial tilt which gives it a mild and predictable climate. I can only imagine what they think of our planet's own axial tilt and varied climates in some parts. Muria also has a high gravity, hence why they could fly. They are a race of monotremes with four lungs and six eyes. They believe that only money can buy them a place in the afterlife which if you asked me is completely ridiculous. Their planet was conquered a few years ago by an invading alien force and the survivors set out into the galaxy in search of a new home."

"As far as the Green Lantern Corps knows, they have yet to find that planet," John adds.

Shayera speaks. "We're currently interrogating the leader in order to figure out if that planet they want to live on is this one since it’s so similar to their old one."

"I'm more interested in knowing if they were sent by the mages," Clark says.

Shayera nods in understanding to Clark's concern. "J'onn is currently searching the queen's mind to figure that out and about them settling on Earth. If he fails, for whatever reason, then we'll  force her to tell us with Diana's lasso."

"Why don't you just use the lasso in the first place?" Clark asks.

John answers this time. "With the lasso we can only ask questions and we might not get a full answer when we do. With J'onn going into her mind he'll be able to get everything we need without us making sure to ask it or forgetting to ask it."

The medical wing door then slides open and in walks Wally. "We have a problem." They all follow Wally out of the room, Clark holding Bruce's hand as he walks beside him, and to the interrogation room. They all peer into the two way mirror where J'onn and Diana are with the queen. "J'onn couldn't read her mind as much as he tried, and he tried like three times, but every time he did, he would get kicked out of her mind." Wally pauses to make sure that the information sinks in and then continues. "So, like we agreed, Diana tried her lasso." Clark has a bad feeling about what is coming next. "Except when she did, the queen answered like you would expect but Diana isn't sure if she is telling the truth."

"What do you mean?" John asks.

Wally answers, "The queen said that they did not come here to inhabit Earth and to only fight you, Supes, and that they were not sent here by the magicians."

"Why does Diana think she is lying? That's what she told me when we were fighting." Clark feels Bruce press against his leg, holding onto his pants tightly.

Wally shrugs. "Diana said she believes the part about not being sent here but it's the wanting to settle on Earth that she has a bad feeling about." He shrugs again. "You know Diana, when she has these types of feelings, especially when it comes to using her lasso, she's normally right." Wally turns to the two way mirror. "It's too bad we don't have our _third_ interrogator. He can normally get the correct answer even without mind reading and lassos of truth."

Clark sends the speedster a pointed warning look but Wally isn't facing him so he can't see it. "Well he's not here."

Clark looks down at the pull of his pant leg. "Are you talking about Batman?"

Clark nods. "Yeah, we are."

"How _come_ he's not here?" Bruce looks around at everyone who is in the room. "And don't tell me he's busy again. This seems important, even to me, and I would think he would want to be here."

Clark sighs internally. "I... don't know where he is."

Bruce looks at him with concern. "Shouldn't you find out? What if he really did get hurt, like you hurt, because he was fighting these aliens somewhere else?"

Clark tries to smile reassuringly. "I'm sure if that were the case, he would have contacted one of us and told us that he was fighting them."

"But what if he couldn't?" Clark gives Wally, Shayera, and John a helpless look.

"Okay," Clark begins. "I'll listen for him and see if he is okay." Clark pretends to listen intently, which is weird when he's not actually doing such a thing. "I found him. He's home and resting."

"Resting?" Bruce doesn't look satisfied at all. "Not like you resting?"

Clark opens his mouth before what Bruce said can fully register in his head but comes up short to what he wanted to say. _Did they tell Bruce that he was_ just _resting? But he still knows he almost died. Unless that's because he saw it on TV but as soon as the others said he was just resting then he should have thought he was going to be fine. Of course, it could also just be four year old talk for badly injured to the point of almost dying and is recovering._ Clark rolls his eyes at himself. _Of course, that's what Bruce means idiot._ "No, he's just overworked himself and needs to rest up. Look, I'll even contact him." Clark pretends to press at the com-link in his ear. "Batman, you there?" He then mouths to Bruce that he answered and nods his head at the same time. "Yeah, I figured you would have heard. Yeah I'm fine. Um... I was wondering if you were thinking about helping us out. Over tired? Are you okay?" Clark pauses to make it seem like Batman is going into why he's over tired and why Clark _shouldn't_ be asking him if he's okay. Then he says, "Oh wow, guess you were pretty busy. Yeah it's no problem. Rest up and take care of yourself. If you do find anything though, because I know you and I know you won't leave this alone, let us know. But, Batman, for once, put yourself first." Another pause as if Clark is listening to Bruce grumbling at him. "Okay, bye Batman." Clark then pretends to shut the com-link off. "See, he's perfectly fine."

"Just too tired to help?"  Bruce asks for confirmation.

Clark nods. "Yeah, he apparently has had a very busy week and instead of relying on his family and friends for help, because that's how he is, he overworked himself and now is too tired to deal with this and his own city at the same time."

Bruce's eyes narrow slightly, skeptically. "Okay but does he know how important this whole thing is?"

"Do you?" John asks, crossing his arms as Bruce looks over at him. "You are only four."

Bruce mimics John's stance. "I might be four but I'm not stupid."

"Bruce," Clark butts in before an escalation of exchanges comes around. "Batman knows. That's why he's still going to be looking into it. Now," Clark rubs his hands together. "Are you hungry? I was thinking pizza." Everyone turns to him and looks at him strangely, as if they can't fathom how Clark could be thinking about food at a time like this. It's not the food that Clark is thinking about though. It's the fact that he wants the subject that they are on dropped and Bruce distracted.

Bruce's eyebrows are scrunched in confusion. "Is now really the time to be thinking about-" Bruce is cut off by a loud growl from his stomach. He then turns the brightest red Clark has ever seen Bruce blush. "May...maybe some pizza would be nice."

Clark smiles with a chuckle. "Okay let's go to the cafeteria and see what we can find."

"Can..." Clark stops and looks at Bruce. "Can we go somewhere else, just the two of us?"

Clark thinks about this, looking at the other three people that are there with them. Both Shayera and Wally shrug while John just stands there waiting for his answer. Knowing John, he probably thinks Clark should stay on the Watchtower until this whole alien business is taken care of. Clark looks back to Bruce. "Sure... sure why not. Come on." Clark picks him up and smiles at the other three. "See you later guys."

Clark starts walking to the teleportation tubes, Bruce not saying goodbye to the group, and then teleports back down to Metropolis. Bruce is leaning his head on Clark's shoulder, arms around his neck. He has to let go briefly, though, for Clark to change into civilian clothes but once dressed, the kid is right back in his arms in the same position. It's dark now, the time being around eight o'clock. Clark isn't sure if that is too late for a four year old or not but Bruce wants to go somewhere to eat so he guesses he'll go to some quick pizza joint and that quick pizza joint is going to be Clark’s favorite place to go for pizza because why not? At one point during their walk to Clark’s favorite Pizza place, he asks the child in his arms why he wanted to eat with Clark alone but Bruce only answers with a shrug.

They arrive just after eight thirty, the place not being too busy since it’s so late on a work night, and they go up to the counter to order their pizza. “What can I get for you sir?” The woman behind the counter grabs a pad of paper and a pen. Clark places his orders and then grabs the paper cups that are handed to him.

After filling the cups with the appropriate drink from the fountain, he goes and picks a table that has a booth on one side and two chairs on the other, that table being the only one far enough from curious ears. Clark has a feeling he and Bruce will be having a serious conversation that others shouldn’t know about. Clark takes one of the chairs, deciding the booster seat that he grabs will be safest on the side with the booth. He helps Bruce into it and waits until their pizza is ready before starting the inevitable conversation they will be having.

Biting into his pizza, Clark eyes Bruce as the small four year old eats, wondering how he is going to start the conversation he’s sure is coming his way. Bruce beats him to talking, however. “This is really good.” Bruce smiles and takes another big bite.

“Careful, don’t take too big of bites. You can choke doing that,” Clark warns.

Bruce swallows what is in his mouth and then takes a sip from his punch. “Thank you Clark.” Clark looks at Bruce in confusion. “For taking care of me.”

Clark softens and reaches over to ruffle Bruce’s hair. “No problem, Bruce. I like having you around.”

Bruce smiles more and continues to eat his pizza, looking away. Then the kid turns his gaze back onto Clark once he finishes the piece he is on. Clark hands him another while Bruce starts to talk. “Can I ask you something?” Clark nods, taking a sip from his own drink. “Why, out of all the other children on that ship, did you pick me to save?”

“Are you still thinking about those children? I’m sure they’re fine Bruce.” Clark just hopes he’s right and that none of the de-aged prisoners were hurt.

“But why did you single me out?” Bruce continues.

Clark takes a bite of pizza to stall for time and he’s almost positive Bruce sees through this tactic. “Because, at that time I could only choose one of you and you’re just the one I chose.”

“At random?” Clark nods again. “Then why take care of me?” Clark is stumped at this question but he doesn’t have enough time to answer it anyway before Bruce asks another question. “Why am I named Bruce?”

Clark laughs. “Bruce, that’s like asking me why the sky is blue.”

“I know why the sky is blue.” Clark stares at him. “I don’t know why I’m named Bruce.”

“I...” What in the world is he supposed to say? Clark feels like he’s being interrogated, which, if he thinks about who is _really_ asking the questions, then technically he is being interrogated, and he doesn’t know the correct answers. “I don’t know Bruce, that’s just what your parents named you.”

“And where are my parents? Who are they? Are they really dead?” Bruce asks in succession.

“I don’t know Bruce.” Clark watches as Bruce’s eyes narrow. _He knows that look; the calculating, judging,_ scrutinizing _look._

“Were they the people in my dream?” he asks next, the narrowed eyes disappearing.

Clark gulps; not liking the direction this conversation is headed. “I can’t be certain Bruce.”

“If...” Bruce hesitates then, eyeing Clark warily. “If Batman’s stuff were there on that spaceship, how come he wasn’t there too?”

“He let me take his utility belt with me.” Clark shrugs. “It’s no big deal really. He lets me do that all the time.” He really doesn’t, probably would kill Clark if he even _thought_ of asking to bring it, but he has to say something.

Bruce takes a drink. “Then why did you go on that mission alone in the first place?”

Clark wishes Bruce would stop talking in sentences and using words as if he’s older than four years old. “The Justice League and I thought it would be a much simpler mission than it turned out to be.” It’s not technically a lie since Batman is the only one that didn’t underestimate the mages.

“What about Batman’s cape?” Clark stares some more. _He knew!_

“Wh-what are you talking about?” Clark hopes the kid is mistaken.

Bruce stares into his eyes. “You wrapped me up in Batman’s cape. Did he let you bring that too?” Clark flails for an answer. He doesn’t know what to say. “Why did you pretend to be talking to him earlier?” Now that’s the question that really takes Clark by surprise and throws him off. “Why are you lying to me?”

“Bruce, I...” Clark is at a loss. “I don’t know what to say.”

“How about the truth?” Bruce looks down then, at his half eaten piece of pizza. “You chose me to save over the other children, Batman’s stuff were on the spaceship, my name is Bruce and my last name starts with a W just like Bruce Wayne.” Clark wants to stop him but nothing will come out of his mouth as he watches in horror as the _too smart_ four year old with freaking amnesia, puts all the pieces together in a time frame less than twenty minutes. “Bruce Wayne’s parents are dead,” Clark doesn’t even bother asking how he knows this. “And Bruce Wayne is Batman and Batman is Superman’s, _your_ , best friend. Being your best friend, you would, of course, choose him over anyone else to save first if the other people weren’t in immediate danger. Now Batman won’t show up to help us just because he’s over tired, which doesn’t seem like something Batman would do, and makes it so I still can’t meet him despite the fact that I’ve met the other Justice League members. In fact, I haven’t seen him at all even on TV and every time I ask about him you either dodge the question or tell me he’s busy.”

“Bruce,” Clark interrupts him then. “What are you getting at?”

Bruce looks up and straight into his eyes and Clark has no choice but to look back at those silvery blue irises. “I’m Bruce Wayne aren’t I?” Clark gapes. “I’m Batman.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. :)
> 
> Updates will be every Friday. Next update scheduled for: 1/1/16 EST. To see a full list of dates, please go [here](http://angelcamael.tumblr.com/post/132217933841/loss-of-time).


	10. Chapter 10

Clark tries to laugh child Bruce’s deduction off. “No you’re not. You’re just a kid, Batman is an adult.”

Bruce’s eyes narrow again and Clark swears his voice drops an octave while he practically growls out, “What happened to me on that spaceship, Clark?”

“Nothing happened that I haven’t already told you,” Clark says.

Bruce almost jumps out of his booster seat. “But you haven’t told me anything!” He lowers his voice when he sees a few people looking over at their table. “You just told me some bad people took me and they hurt me but you never told me _how_ they hurt me.”

“Because you don’t need to know, Bruce,” Clark pleads.

“Yes I do.” He sounds almost panicked. “Yes I do, Clark, I _need_ to know and it’s not right or your responsibility to keep it from me.” Bruce sighs. “I can handle it. I know you think I can’t, but I can.”

“You’re only four,” Clark almost whispers, his words laced with sadness and grief even to his own ears.

Bruce stops narrowing his eyes and instead takes on almost a sad questioning look. “Am I?”

Clark can’t look the child in the eyes when he answers. “Of course, you are.”

When Clark looks back to Bruce, the kid looks even more sad. “You keep lying.”

“I’m trying to protect you,” he tries explaining.

Bruce shakes his head slightly. “But at what cost?”

It’s a way too adult thing to say and Clark doesn’t really like it. “There is no cost, not with this.”

“There’s always a cost.” Bruce looks away then, indicating that the conversation is over, at least for now.

Clark sighs, wondering how the conversation went from child Bruce channeling his inner four year old and enjoying the pizza, to child Bruce channeling his inner forty year old and asking questions and reprimanding him like his adult self would do. Sighing one more time, he continues to eat as does Bruce.

It isn’t until they are done with the pizza and Clark is about to get up to throw the trash away that two people sit beside them, one large male in the chair to Clark’s left and one female in the booth to Bruce’s right. “Hey, handsome, fancy seeing you here,” the female says.

Clark looks at her, trying to figure out if he’s seen her before. Bruce’s heart beat has sped up and he’s looking at the two suspiciously. “Do I know you?”

The woman answers with a smile. “No you don’t. My name is Imogen and he is Cormac.” She holds out her hand for Clark to shake but he looks at it distrustfully.

Clark looks back to her eyes. They’re a weird color, almost a shimmering purple with some green in it. “Who are you?”

“Should we call you Clark, Kal, or Superman?” Imogen smiles at him but he can tell it’s faked sincerity.

“How do you know me?” Clark notices Bruce trying to secretly slip down under the table. Unfortunately, Imogen notices too and grabs the back of his shirt, yanking him back up. The boy squeals with alarm and Clark almost jumps up from his seat but a hand placed on his shoulder causes him to collapse back down. He looks to the hand, Cormac’s hand, and notices a faint glow. _Magic... not again. Can’t we have a break from the last time?_ Clark now knows who these two are. “You’re two of the mages, aren’t you?”

Imogen smiles again. “You’re pretty sharp aren’t you.” She pulls Bruce close to her and the boy pushes against her, trying to get away. Clark looks around the room but no one notices this. _Does she have a cloaking spell up?_ “Yes, we are the ‘mages’. Cormac and I were sent to you to talk.”

Clark is starting to sweat and feel nauseous from the hand on his shoulder. He wishes magic didn’t affect him so much. “Talk about what?”

“Things, like who we are,” she says.

Clark shakes his head. “I don’t really care who you are. Let go of the boy.”

“We are Broorg, and are a, as you would call us as well as yourself, Kryptonian, a ‘humanoid’ species. Cormac and I come from a planet called Vulbir V,” she begins despite Clark’s statement of not caring. “Except we have two stomachs and much stronger bones than these humans. We also use these,” She lifts her shirt to show her stomach. Clark can see a black, round, implanted thing right where her belly button should be. “Implants to breathe. Our home world was rendered uninhabitable due to an environmental catastrophe. That planet was called Vulbir and it was a beautiful place. But the catastrophe killed many of us and we had to leave. We decided to terraform a nearby planet in our star system and make that planet our new home.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Clark asks, starting to pant from how sick he is starting to feel. Bruce looks at him with worry and Clark wishes he could comfort him. “I don’t care.”

“You see, Superman, we are governed by a religious hierarchy and it’s a brutal religion that is up on top,” she continues, ignoring him. “Of course, all our religions can be demanding and harsh but necessary, even the very bottom one. If you’re wondering, I’m third in from the top, Cormac is fifth from the top and second to last. That’s why he hasn’t talked, he’s not allowed to.” She chuckles. “But at least he’s not the bottom. Now those are the real slaves and the ones that get no rights at all. They should be lucky we allow them to live.” Clark is disgusted and wishes he had the strength to tell her so... with his fist. “Anyways, after we moved to Vulbir II, we started to explore more and claimed over half our galaxy. We have conquered and colonized many planets. Now, now Superman, we aren’t here to take over Earth. We have no interest in this filthy planet that is overrun by this,” she looks to Bruce, “scum. We are only interested in our galaxy,” Imogen says to his worried look. “But the problem is, Superman, with so much colonization, with so much conquering, we are running out of our own species to be... the lower religion.”

“Then why not stop colonizing?” Clark asks.

She laughs. “We will never do that until all the planets are conquered in our galaxy.” She calms. “We find, however, that getting slaves that are already adults difficult because they like to revolt, try to get out of it, and _complain,_ ” she spits the last word out. “Then we learned about magic and how wonderful it can be and with that, we soon realized that raising kids into adults that are already slaves are _much less_ of a hassle and a pain in the ass. They complain less, revolt less, and do their damn job.” Clark narrows his eyes in anger as Bruce’s widen, probably finally figuring out what happened to him back on that spaceship. “Removing their memories is just another perk.” Bruce looks to him in shock but doesn’t say anything. “Oh and by the way Superman, I suggest you get back to your cute little Watchtower soon. You see, Gorganeerians have a wonderful talent at lying and overcoming truth serums and truth magic. They also have quite the knack at keeping telepathy out of their head. They’re pretty good at that defense.” Clark looks at her in alarm. _They were lying! Diana was right!_ Imogen chuckles. “I promised them this world so I guess you do have to worry about an alien force conquering this world.” _Except the queen wasn’t just lying about coming to conquer but about being sent by the mages too. Oh no!_ “Gorganeerians are very useful. After all, they made it possible for me to find you.” Clark rakes his brain to figure out what she could possibly mean. Then it hits him. _The sword._ Before Clark can ask how being stabbed made it so she could find him, though he suspects it must have something to do with magic, she says, “Now, I have said all that I came to say, we’ll be leaving now.”

She makes to get up but Clark stops her by saying, “Not with the boy.”

Imogen looks at him as if she is shocked he is being so unruly and defiant. “Of course, with the boy. He belongs to us now, he’s our property,” she says this as if it’s obvious.

Clark finally finds the strength to shove Cormac’s hand off his shoulder and stand. “He’s no one’s property and therefore belongs to no one!”

She eyes him for a short minute before saying, “Kria owa.” Imogen flicks her wrist and the next thing Clark knows is he is being flung backwards. He knocks over the chair and hits the wall, creating huge cracks in it. Before he has time to recover, Imogen walks over to him and places her hand just above his eyes and on his eyebrows. “Crorur.” Clark feels really tired all of sudden and he struggles to keep his eyes open but Imogen pushes them down with her fingers. Before he’s spelled into full sleep he sees her smile victoriously at him and hears her say, “Goodnight, Kal-El, we will be seeing each other again soon.”

...

Clark intakes a large breath as he opens his eyes. Looking around rapidly and blinking to clear the fog in his brain, he realizes he is still sat at the table as if nothing happened. The other people in the restaurant are still eating their food, engaging in conversation and laughing, and to Clark’s relief, Bruce is still across from him albeit asleep. Shaking his head, Clark gets up abruptly, knocking the chair over in the process, and causing all eyes to turn to him. _It was a dream, a vision, she hasn’t been here yet... but their coming._ Rushing to the other side of the table, he shakes the child awake. “Bruce.”

Bruce groggily wakes up, rubbing at his eyes to try and rid the magic. “What happened?”

“We need to leave.” He picks him up. “We need to leave right now.”

Snapping fully awake, Bruce asks in alarm, “What’s going on?”

There’s murmuring going on around him, the other patrons wondering what is going on as well. “We just need to-” There’s a bang and Clark turns to the front of the building just in time to see the door fly off its hinges. It almost hits the woman behind the counter, who screams and ducks for cover. There are more shocked screams that echo around the room and Clark watches horrified as the two mages walk into the restaurant.

Cormac looks bigger than in the vision and Imogen looks ten times more menacing. The sounds die down in the room and everyone watches the two walk in and stop ten feet from Clark. “Give us the boy.” Clark stands there, holding Bruce close, and says nothing. “We can do this the hard way or the easy way, Clark. Give us the boy right now.”

“Hold on tight.” He whispers to Bruce and he feels the arms wrapped around him grow tighter. He takes a hesitant step back, watches as Imogen catches the action, and then he turns and bolts for the back entrance. As soon as he is out of sight of the customers in the pizza joint, he uses his super speed to get the rest of the way out of the building and hits the sky. Clark goes high up into the sky, high enough for it to be impossible for anyone on the ground to make out who he is. Clark lost his glasses at one point too, sure they are in the alley that he entered while exiting the building and probably fell off when he hastily flew off the ground, and now Bruce is shivering in his arms because he is so high up. There’s also no sun to even remotely warm them up a little bit. The further he goes, the more it gets cold, Clark going to the only place he can think of that will buy the two some time before the two Broorg follow him there. He lands gracefully within the confines of the Fortress of Solitude, making sure to lock it so only he can enter. Going to the main room he sets Bruce down, grabs the blanket one of the droids brings to him, and wraps it around Bruce’s shivering form. He then tells the Fortress to warm up a bit as he quickly changes into his Superman costume. Going to the bank of computers, Clark hits a button. “Superman to Justice League, Justice League come in.” He’s worried by what Imogen told him about the Gorganeerians. There’s only static that comes from the other side so he tries again. “Superman to Justice League, please come in.” More static sounds.

“Clark,” Clark looks to Bruce. “Did that woman make us see all that?” He nods in confirmation. “How much was it made up?”

Clark thinks about this and wonders as well. It must have been after his conversation with Bruce since the people in the restaurant reacted to Bruce yelling but not to what the Broorg were doing. However, Clark also knows that’s what Bruce is currently trying to figure out. _Was their conversation real? Yes, but..._ “I would have to say it began as soon as we started talking.”

Bruce’s eyes narrow and Clark is almost afraid he’s going to see through the lie. “Why do you think that?”

Clark shrugs. “Because, she probably wanted us to be pinned against each other and what better way of doing that than causing us to have an argument.”

Bruce’s eyes stay narrowed for a long time, the silence stretching out. Bruce finally talks, letting his face relax. “I... suppose that makes sense.” There’s still an undertone of suspicion in the kid’s voice.

Clark doesn’t think Bruce believes him and after what happened at the pizza place, he most likely is right, but Bruce drops it so Clark does as well. He tries to get in contact with the League again. “Damn it.” He hits the crystal surface that the computer sits on in frustration.

“Something’s wrong isn’t it?” Bruce has set aside the blanket as the Fortress is plenty warm now.

Clark pinches the bridge of his nose then side eyes Bruce. _What is he going to do?_ “Yes, something’s wrong. They should be answering.” Rubbing at his face, Clark takes a step back from the computer. “Something’s happened up there and the only way for me to figure it out is to fly up there but I can’t with you because you can’t breathe in space.”

“It’s too bad _Batman_ isn’t here.” Clark sighs, not missing the jab at him. Bruce takes a step towards him. “What are we going to do then?”

“I don’t-” Both Clark and Bruce jump by the loud bang they hear. _The Broorg are here!_

Bruce runs the rest of the way to him. “They’re trying to get in.”

Clark scoops the child up and speeds to his bedroom. He sets Bruce down by the bed. “Stay in here.”

“Be careful,” Bruce calls after him as he leaves.

Once the door slides shut behind him, Clark says to the Fortress, “Lock the door. Don’t allow anyone access except for me.” He waits to hear the click of the door before making his way back to the main room of the Fortress. There, Imogen and Cormac are already waiting.

“Where’s the boy?” Imogen asks.

“Safe.” Clark stands up straight and tries to look intimidating. When Imogen and Cormac’s hands start to glow, he braces himself.

He dodges an attack from Imogen who decides to shoot a beam of magic towards him while Cormac charges him. Cormac misses by a few inches and Clark brings down both his fists onto his upper back, slamming him to the floor. Cracks form around the man and he seems to be dazed for the moment so Clark turns his attention to Imogen. She’s closer to him than he thought, however, and Clark gets punched in the face causing him to stumble back. He rubs his cheek, feeling the sting, and sees Cormac getting up. The magic makes them strong and it doesn’t help that Clark has no defense against it. Cormac shoots a rapid succession of magic balls in which Clark dodges easily but then there’s a sharp pain in his back where Imogen has managed to sneak behind him. Turning around, he lands a blow to her own face, flying her backwards and into the wall with the force of the punch. Clark has a feeling they can take him being a little rough and using his strength.

He goes after Cormac this time, flying with super speed to him and grabbing him around his midsection. He flies him into the wall where he punches him in the gut and then the head. It only fazes the big guy for a second before he grabs a hold of Clark’s face with both hands and the next thing Clark feels is a burning, nauseating pain to his cheeks that radiate all through his head. Clark yells and wrenches himself out of Cormac’s grasp, floating back a few feet away before falling to his knees, holding both his cheeks.

“Where is he?” Imogen screams and when Clark looks up, he can see her approaching him.

Clark stands, shaking the pain off the best he can. “Safe.” He flies towards her but she is ready. With a few words, there’s a shield in front of her and Clark promptly flies right into it. It electrocutes him and he has to quickly stumble back to get away from it. He’s breathing heavily as he looks from Imogen to Cormac. _How can he defeat these two?_ He doesn’t know but he has to protect Bruce... even if it kills him.

He flies towards Imogen again but this time instead of a shield stopping him, Cormac ramming into his side does. He hits the floor hard, both of them rolling to a stop, Cormac on top of him. Before he has a chance to get up, Cormac’s glowing fist comes down and connects with his jaw. The pain radiates through Clark’s entire body, causing him to tense up with each blow. “Tell us where he is right now!”

Imogen is getting angrier but Clark still won’t tell her no matter how much pain they put him through. He will protect Bruce, no matter the age, with his life. Clark catches the next punch in his hand, feels the burn of the magic but ignores it, returning a punch to Cormac’s own jaw. The guy rolls off him, holding his face as blood pours out of his nose. Clark hit him a little harder than he has been.

Struggling to get up, he manages to shakily get to his feet. Defiantly, he stands his ground to Imogen, not saying a word. This only seems to piss her off more. She charges and Clark catches her by the wrist, twists it until it breaks and she screams, then falls to the ground again as Cormac recovers and kicks him in the stomach. Imogen screams profanity at him as Cormac keeps kicking him with a magic infused foot. A kick that lands painfully on his stomach causes him to roll away, getting him out of Cormac’s reach. He tries to get up, spitting blood onto the ground, but his arms are too shaky to lift his body weight.

When Cormac reaches him again, Clark looks up into his smiling face. The mage lifts his leg, posing to stomp on Clark’s head and possibly end it all, but before he has a chance there’s a voice and then a yellow beam of magic that hits Cormac and sends him flying. “Quickly, get to the kid.” Superman looks over to the one who owns the voice, the one who has decided to join the battle, the one who has saved his life, and is shocked by who he sees. Doctor Fate is standing there, currently in heated battle with Imogen. “Go, Superman!”

Clark pushes himself up with still shaky arms and begins to stumble his way back to his bedroom where he left Bruce, having to stop himself from collapsing by catching himself on the wall more than once. Clark slowly makes his way to the locked door, leaning on the wall as he says, "Open." There's a click to indicate the door unlocking and then it slides open. Clark practically falls inside, taking a few steps before he hits the floor. He lands on his hands and knees.

"Clark!" Bruce runs over to him and grabs a hold of his arm, pulling. "Come on, get up."

"Lock," Clark mumbles and the door behind him locks once again. He then waves Bruce off of him. "I'm okay... I'm okay." He crawls over to the bed and leans his back against it, trying to take even breaths. Clark then closes his eyes. "I just need to rest."

Bruce pulls his arm again. "No, don't rest like before. Rest is bad."

Clark shakes his head and opens his eyes to look at the kid. "No, it's okay. It's not like before. You don't need to worry Bruce." There's a loud noise on the other side of the door, as if someone got knocked into it. Clark scrambles to his feet and grabs a hold of Bruce's shoulders to spin them around. "Get under the bed. Don't come out for anything and don't make a sound. I mean it Bruce, stay there no matter what." Bruce nods and Clark nudges him towards the bed. He watches the four year old crawl under the bed and then turns to the door.

The door is knocked off, which would require some pretty powerful magic, Clark notes, and Doctor Fate is flung into the room. Fate rolls across the room and stays down. Cormac then follows, blue magic flowing between his hands. He goes to do a finishing blow but Clark flies into his side. Cormac flings him off with a blow of magic and Clark is hurled across the room. He hears a tiny gasp from Bruce but at least the kid has stayed there.

Imogen then walks in. "I know the kid is in here somewhere."

Clark gets to his feet as Fate does the same. Doctor Fate faces Cormac and engages in battle with him. "I'll never tell you where he is."

"Then you'll die." Imogen says some words and Clark has to dodge her next attack. He goes to do his own but Imogen recovers a lot faster than he thought she would and attacks him back. When the magic beam hits him this time, instead of knocking him back like before, it surrounds him and causes a pain to flow through his entire body. He screams, vaguely hearing Fate's concerned yell of Superman, and falls to the floor in agony. When the magic finally subsides, which is only a few seconds but it felt like ages to Clark, he is a withering, panting mess on the floor.

"Superman!" He opens his eyes through the pain and sees Bruce running towards him. _No! Damn it, Bruce, even as a child you can't stay safe._ Bruce is by his side but Imogen is quickly gaining on them. "Get up." He pulls at his arm and unlike the last time adult Bruce did this, Clark actually tries to get up despite the pain. "Come on."

Clark manages to somehow get to his feet. "Stay behind me." He pushes Bruce behind him. He has to think of a different tactic. _How did he defeat the Gorganeerians?_ It comes to him after only a few seconds of thinking about it.

Imogen goes to shoot another beam of magic at him but this time Clark stops it with his heat vision. The magic and the heat vision lock together in the air and Clark starts to advance slowly. Imogen has to keep the magic beam up or else she will get hit by the heat vision but her back is also to the wall. She manages to take a few steps back but then her back hits the wall and Clark makes it close enough to punch her. He does so hard, hoping it's finally hard enough to knock her out. She falls to the ground, blood coming out of her nose and a little dribbling out of her mouth along with her eye starting to swell. Doctor Fate then comes up beside him, says some kind of spell that he directs towards Imogen, and then says to him, "She will stay asleep now."

Clark looks around the room and sees Cormac knocked out as well. "How?"

"It's only a matter of getting the upper hand instead of being the most powerful," Fate explains.

Clark holds back a chuckle. "You sound like Batman."

"Speaking of Batman." Doctor Fate turns to child Bruce, who is starting to come towards them. "We must go. Diana sent me here to get you and Bruce. We'll take these two as prisoners."

"And the Gorganeerians? How is everyone up on the Watchtower? Did they get hurt badly?" Clark asks.

Fate shakes his head then makes his signature cross portal. "No, no serious injuries. The Gorganeerians have been defeated again and their queen has been placed into custody again." He turns to the portal. "Come, we have no time to waste." Fate walks through the portal and Clark, picking up Bruce, follows.

...

They're in an empty room, Wally and Shayera entertaining Bruce while Clark and the rest of the Justice League talk to Fate and Zatanna. Apparently while captured, the queen of the Gorganeerians attacked along with the, as she called him, "chief executor" that they had also taken into custody. The other Gorganeerians, thinking that their queen and "chief executor" we're strong enough to defeat the whole Justice League by themselves, stayed out of the fight. Because of that, Diana told Clark, they had no problem taking out the two but during the fight their communication systems got damaged. They now want to vote on whether they should send the queen and her "chief executor" to the Phantom Zone or not. The vote will have to be later though since the League has more important things to concentrate on right now.

 "Zatanna approached me and told me of the situation. She managed to find a reversal spell but the problem is the fact that the reversal spell is very powerful. It'll take more than one person to cast and have it work. We aren't even sure just the two of us can do it. If it comes down to it, we'll need to find some more people that do magic," Doctor Fate tells them.

"I'd recommend John Constantine, he's normally pretty good," Zatanna suggests.

Fate looks at her as if she is crazy, or that's what Clark assumes how he is looking at her since he is wearing his helmet. "Constantine is..."

"Oh don't pretend you don't like him. He's... unique." She smiles sweetly and Clark can still see the eye roll Doctor Fate gives her even with the helmet on.

"Anyways, I'm sure when they initially cast the de-aging spell, they had at least three to five people to do it," Fate continues. "It's a very difficult spell to make and even more difficult one to reverse. It will take some time."

"Also," Zatanna says. "I think it would be best if we put a sleeping spell on Bruce. That way he doesn't fight it and it lessens the possibility that complications will arise."

Clark agrees with that. He doesn't want Bruce to be awake and witness what is being done to him or get frightened. "Can I have a minute with him first?"

Zatanna and Fate exchange glances and Zatanna is the one who answers. "We would like to start as soon as possible." Clark's shoulders slumps. "But we can spare a few minutes."

Clark thanks them and walks to the middle of the room where the ritual for the spell will be taking place. "Bruce, come here for a minute please." Wally and Shayera allow Bruce to leave them and go up to Clark. When Bruce reaches him, he kneels down and places his hands on his shoulders. "Bruce it's..." He's not really sure how to tell him.

Bruce saves him from having to though. "It's time for me to go away isn't it?"

Clark feels a pull at his chest. _Can he do this? Does he even want to anymore?_ He nods. "Yeah it is."

Bruce looks sad. "I don't want to go. I want to stay with you."

Clark wishes he could tell him that he won't be leaving him only growing up. _Growing up to be totally different than how he is now._ Instead, Clark pulls him into a hug. "I know you don't."

He pats Bruce's hair as the child buries his face in his shoulder. "I thought you said you wouldn't abandon me? I thought you love me?"

"I'm not going to abandon you, Bruce. I promised that," Clark says. “And I do love you but…”

"You told me you love Bruce Wayne and I’m Bruce Wayne.” Bruce looks at him. “That means you love me like you love him." When Clark doesn’t comment, he continues. “But you’re not going to show adult me that, are you, even though I love you too?”

Clark shakes his head. “Bruce, what you’re feeling right now, is different. It’s not the kind of love I feel for… for Bruce Wayne. You’re only four; you can’t possible feel that way.”

“But what makes you think adult me doesn’t?” Bruce asks. “How do you know? You’re not me Clark. You don’t know what adult me feels.”

Clark looks away from him. “But I do. I’ve known Bruce Wayne for a long time. I know what he’s like. There’s no way he would ever love me like that.”

“If that’s how you really feel, then don’t turn me back.” He lays his head back onto Clark’s shoulder. “If it means staying with you, I don’t want to be turned back,” Bruce whispers against his shoulder so only Clark can hear. “Please, just don’t leave me.” Bruce isn't crying, Clark can tell, after all, he's heard the kid cry plenty of times now to know, but Clark can hear the pain in Bruce's voice. Clark doesn’t say anything. “Just don’t leave. Please Clark, don’t leave.  Don’t leave me.”

He continues patting the back of Bruce's head. "It's okay; it's going to be okay. I’m not going to leave you." Clark then kisses his temple. "I promise it'll be okay."

Zatanna walks up behind Bruce and places her hand on the top of his head as she says some spell. The next thing Clark knows is that Bruce is going limp and falling asleep in his arms. "He's asleep now."

Clark pulls the small body towards him. "Please just give me a little bit more time."

Zatanna gives him a sympathetic look and then nods, walking away. Clark isn't sure how long he sits there holding Bruce, but eventually Diana comes up and kneels beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Kal?"

He looks up at her. "Am I doing the right thing, Diana?"

She looks at him confused. "What do you mean?"

He sighs. "Like this, Bruce gets a second chance at a childhood. I'm willing to raise him now if that's a problem and, of course, there's always Alfred who could raise him again too but he's getting older and has Damian to deal with and-"

"Kal," Diana cuts him off. "I think you just answered your own question."

"What do you mean?" Clark asks.

She doesn't answer his question and instead asks, "Why are you thinking this all of a sudden?"

He shrugs. "It's just that..." He looks down at Bruce who is still sleeping. "Just..."

"I think we all will miss this version of him, Kal. That's understandable." When Clark looks at her again, there's another sympathetic smile on her lips. "What do you want?"

"I... don't know. Damn it, Diana, this is another thing I wanted to avoid. I didn’t want to get attached to a de-aged version of my best friend." Clark scowls.

"Of your love," Diana supplies.

Clark sighs again and looks down. "Yeah... I love him so much but turning him back just because of that is selfish, isn't it?"

Diana stays silent for a little while before saying, "Then let me decide." Clark looks at her quizzically. "Gotham needs Batman, the Justice League needs Batman, Alfred needs his surrogate son, Bruce's children, especially Damian with how young he is, needs their father, and, Kal, you need him too." She smiles. "As much as we like this version of him, it's still not him. He's not the Batman Gotham knows and the Justice League knows, he's not the Bruce Alfred and all of Bruce's children know, and he certainly isn't the one you love."

"So you're saying to change him back?" Diana nods and Clark bows his head. "Yeah, you're right. I don't know what I was thinking."

Diana stands. "You were thinking of giving your best friend who you love dearly a second chance at life. There's nothing wrong with that and there is nothing wrong with enjoying this version of him and missing him when he gets turned back. It's okay to feel all those things, Kal."

Clark squeezes Bruce one last time in a tight hug, undresses him since he doesn’t want him to be turned back in clothes that will no longer fit him, and then stands. "Thank you Diana." She smiles and they both walk over to Doctor Fate and Zatanna together. "I'm ready."

"Good," Fate advances towards Bruce along with Zatanna. "We have no more time to spare."

"Are you sure you want to watch this?" Diana asks him as the rest of the Justice League members come up to them.

Clark nods. "Yeah, I have to."

Wally speeds up to them. "Who's looking forward to big, bad, forlorn, grumpy Bat to be back?" His smile fades slightly when his eyes land on Clark. "Well except for you big guy, I bet you can hardly wait."

Diana beats him to an answer and he's grateful to her for it. "We all should be looking forward to Batman's return to normal."

Wally shrugs. "Well yeah, I know and I am, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to miss the little guy and how much more carefree he is compared to regular Batman."

Clark clears his throat. "Excuse me, I need to get some air."

As Clark walks away, he hears Wally say to the group, "Did I say something wrong?"

Clark exits through the door and wanders down the hall. He keeps going, hearing with his super hearing Doctor Fate and Zatanna starting to chant, until he reaches a window that is overlooking the Earth. He looks down at the planet but his thoughts are distracted with Bruce. He hates that he feels this way. He hates that he wants Bruce to stay the way he is right now but also wanting his old friend back. Child Bruce is something he's never seen before. The child's personality, despite some of adult Bruce's personality leaking through, was nothing like adult Bruce. He was happy even though he cried a lot, he was carefree even though he was clingy to Clark, and... and he liked Clark, _loved_ Clark, something adult Bruce doesn't. Maybe that's the reason Clark doesn't want him turned back? Child Bruce loves him when adult Bruce doesn't, even if it is only familial love child Bruce is feeling. Clark always thought his friendship with Bruce would be enough but now... now he's not so sure. Clark sighs in misery and conflict.

"Superman?" Clark turns to see Wally behind him. "Are you okay?"

Clark gives him his best sincere smile which isn't that sincere. "I'm fine Wally, thank you."

Wally walks up to the window and looks out of it. "I love looking out of these Windows and seeing Earth." Clark turns to look too. "Since I can't fly like you and Diana and the rest of the JL along with not perching on roof tops like Batman, I don't get to see cities from high up above very often. That's why I like seeing Earth like this. Even though I can't fly or stay on roof tops all the time, I still get to see Earth from up high." Clark looks at him. Even when Wally is wearing his cowl, he's always been expressive and it's always been pretty easy to read his expressions as well. Right now, he looks calm and reminiscence. Clark likes seeing him like this. "I think I'll miss kid Bruce a lot but... I still want the Bat back as well. I'm conflicted about it and feel guilty that I want him to stay the way he is in the first place though." Clark knows Wally is trying to cheer him up by giving Clark something to relate too but he also can't help but get the sense that the kid is telling the truth. _Bruce was pretty attached to him too. Maybe we both need some comforting right now._

"Wally," Wally turns to him. "I understand and it's okay." Clark places a hand on his shoulder. "But... Diana told me something interesting."

"Which was?" Wally asks.

Clark smiles softly. "Basically the short version is, is that the world needs Batman and most importantly, we, you and I, need Bruce, the real Bruce." He keeps his smile up. "It's hard to let go of this version of him since he's so different from what we know and especially because he actually showed that he liked us instead of growling and scowling and yelling at us." Wally barks a laugh at that. "But, adult Bruce is the one we know the best, the one that is your friend even if he doesn't act like your friend, and the one I love the most. We need that back, Wally, no matter how much we will miss this version and trust me, Wally, you're not the only one who will miss him greatly. I will too and we can share that knowledge and that feeling together... if you want to."

Wally stares at him for a few seconds before he lunges and hugs Clark, burying his face in Clark's shoulder. "Thanks big guy."

Clark blinks in surprise and hesitantly wraps his arms around the speedster, gently patting his back. "You're... you're welcome Wally." Sometimes Clark forgets that Wally is so much younger than him and the rest of the League. He's practically a kid himself compared to the others in the group. _Whether Wally wants to admit it or not, he's childish but at the same time he's probably a lot more sensitive than the older members of the League._ "I'll make sure Bruce doesn't completely blow you off when he's changed back."

Wally pulls back with a snort and a wide smile. "I doubt even you could convince him to acknowledge how much he showed he liked me when he was a child." He then shrugs. "Which is fine because at least I have some ammunition to pick on him with." Clark sees him wink from under his cowl.

Clark chuckles. "Just be careful Wally, he is Batman remember."

A shiver runs through Wally but he's still smiling mischievously. "That's what makes it so fun." They both share a laugh with Clark agreeing with him. Then Wally says, "I'm going to get back in there. You going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I think I will. Thanks Wally." Wally smirks at him then salutes him with two fingers before zipping off. Clark watches him leave in amusement and then turns back to the window one last time before he follows after Wally, taking his time.

When he gets back to the room, he sees Zatanna and Doctor Fate standing on either side of Bruce's prone body, some kind of purplish magic coming out of their hands and surrounding Bruce. They're also chanting in Latin and Clark has to stop himself from laughing at the translation. It's not coherent in English and just sounds ridiculous. _I guess that's spells for you._ Clark saunters up to his teammates that are all standing together, watching the proceedings. "What did I miss?" He asks no one in particular.

Shayera turns to him. "Nothing really. All they've been doing is chanting something in Latin. It hasn't even bothered Bruce at all either. He's been asleep through the whole thing so far."

Clark nods. "That's good that he hasn't woken. I wonder if it's painful though... I mean if he was awake."

"Was he awake when he was de-aged? I would assume it would feel the same now as it did then," John asks.

Clark shrugs. "I don't know. I was still caged when they did it and they did it in a different room."

J'onn speaks then. "I can assure you all that it is causing no pain to Batman. If it was, I would be able to sense it. Also, he was in no pain while being de-aged as well."

Clark sighs in relief. "That's good news, thank you J'onn."

Silence falls upon them and about an hour passes before they see something happen. The magic gets brighter and brighter, abandoning its purple color for white, and engulfs Bruce so much that you can no longer see him. It makes Clark nervous, not being able to see him, but he trusts Fate and Zatanna. The two begin to chant louder and louder until they reach the climax of the spell and stop speaking abruptly. Fate turns to all of them. "It is done."

Clark takes a hopeful step forward. Bruce is still glowing and he doesn't dare look with his x-ray vision. He waits with baited breath for the white glow to dissipate and when it finally does, there, lying in the middle of the room, is a naked, scarred, just as beautiful as ever, _adult_ Bruce who is curled up on his side with his eyes closed. Clark takes another step forward hesitantly. He's almost in disbelief at what he is seeing. He gets as close as he dares to his friend and whispers, "Bruce?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year everyone!!
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. :)
> 
> Updates will be every Friday. Next update scheduled for: 1/8/16 EST. To see a full list of dates, please go [here](http://angelcamael.tumblr.com/post/132217933841/loss-of-time).


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if there are more mistakes than usual in this chapter. While I was proofreading my mom called me to tell me that my grandfather died so I kind of read the rest in a daze and breaks for crying, etc., etc…. I didn't want this to be posted late though so here you go.

Clark stares for about another second before rushing up to him, pulling his cape off. "Bruce? Bruce?" Bruce is starting to come through and is trying to push himself up on weak arms. Clark wraps him up in his cape to cover up his nude body. "Bruce, are you okay? How are you feeling?"

"What..." Bruce's voice is raspy and he has to clear his throat in order to keep speaking. "What happened?"

The others start to gather around them as Clark looks at him. "You don't remember?"

Bruce stares at him and Clark wonders what he is thinking. He then eyes everyone else, J'onn shifting uncomfortably behind Clark for some reason, and then Bruce looks back to Clark to shake his head. "No, I don't remember anything."

"What do you remember?" Diana asks.

Bruce turns his focus onto her and away from Clark. Clark feels his stomach sink. _He doesn't remember any of it._ For some reason that bothers Clark greatly. "I remember getting captured by the mages-"

"Broorg," Clark says quickly.

Bruce eyes him from the corners of his eyes, stares, and then goes back to looking at Diana. "By the Broorg, getting knocked out by them in the cages they kept Kal and I in, and then waking up here. What day is it?"

Clark answers him. "Just barely Friday morning."

Bruce nods and then goes to stand up. Clark tries to help him but Bruce shrugs his efforts off. "What happened?"

Diana answers. "You were de-aged to a four year old child. Kal took care of you until Zatanna could find a spell to turn you back and then she and Doctor Fate performed it just now."

Bruce looks over at Clark again, stares some more which Clark really wishes he could interpret, and then looks down at himself. "That would explain why I'm naked."

Clark can't decide if he's glad the scars are back or if he hates it. He takes a step closer to his friend. “How are you feeling?”

“Sore but I’ll be fine.” Bruce wraps Clark’s cape around himself a little more and Clark has to physically stop himself from reaching out and ruffling his hair by grabbing a hold of his own hand.

“You should rest,” Clark says and the others agree with him by nodding.

Bruce’s eyes narrow at him and Clark already knows what is coming. “No, I don’t need to.”

Clark _doesn’t_ take a step toward him. “But-”

“Clark,” Bruce snaps, glaring at him. Clark takes an abrupt step back and looks to the floor. _He’s not a little kid anymore. He’s not a little kid anymore. He’s not a little kid anymore._ “I said I don’t need to.” Bruce then stalks off, most likely to get cleaned up and dressed. Clark looks after him. _You can’t treat him like that anymore. No more showing him your concern, your caring, your... love. No more showing him your love._ Clark slumps, feeling disheartened.

The other League members disperse, eyeing him cautiously. It’s only Diana who doesn’t leave him. “Kal, give him time. He doesn’t remember anything and for someone like him, I’m sure that is hard.”

Clark bows his head and tries to rein in his emotions. “I know.” He looks up at his friend with a fake smile that he hopes looks genuine enough. By Diana’s frown, however, he thinks he must have failed.

She gives him a soft smile. “He’ll come around.”

Clark doesn’t say anything to that and eventually Diana walks away as well. Clark then turns to Zatanna and Doctor Fate who have been standing off in their own little corner, talking about something. “Thank you. We appreciate the help.”

“No problem,” Zatanna says. “Wouldn’t want to leave Bruce like that.”

Clark nods in agreement even though his heart only half agrees. Then Fate begins to talk. “The Broorg, they use magic?”

“Yeah, but not Earth magic. They use some kind of alien magic and though they do use spells and words for some things, they don’t always have too.”

Fate looks thoughtful, Clark thinks, and then says, “I will collaborate with J’onn and John about the Broorg and the magic. Maybe I will be of some use.”

“Same here.” Zatanna tips her hat. “I might not know much about aliens but magic I can do.”

Clark smiles at them. “Thank you.” The two then walk away with their final acknowledgments towards him. Clark sighs and leaves the room himself. He, too, could really use a shower. Clark heads to the showers and when he gets there, he hesitates. He can hear one of the shower heads on, water pouring on a body, and knows it’s Bruce. Taking a deep breath, he enters. Bruce is in the middle of scrubbing soap on his body and Clark realizes this is the first, real time that he is seeing Bruce naked without some magicians taking his clothes off without consent, as a little kid, or in front of everyone because he was re-aged and then quickly wrapped in a bright red cape. Said cape is hanging on a hanger that is on the wall and Clark quickly fixes his gaze there as Bruce finally becomes aware of the fact that he is in the room. Clark shuffles on his feet, swallowing thickly. Bruce has turned full circle on him, facing front, and not bothering to cover up anything as he continues to scrub at his skin. Clark can feel his cheeks heating up. “Um... Bruce?”

“What do you want Clark?” He sounds calmer than earlier but not super calm either.

Clark dares a peek and decides that it’s safe to look at Bruce as long as he stares at his face and not anywhere else. _Like his... his... oh gosh!_ Clark’s cheeks turn a bright red as he desperately tries to keep his eyes trained on Bruce’s eyes and gathers up his composure. “I was wondering if we could talk?”

“No,” Bruce finally turns back around and Clark’s eyes fall, his whole body relaxing. Except that was a bad idea because now he is staring at Bruce’s naked butt. Clark internally groans.

“Are we ever going to talk about it?” If the way he asks the question sounds like a whine from a whiny child, Clark will deny it until the day he dies.

“No,” Bruce says again.

“Why not?” Clark asks, trying to find something he can fidget with but comes up empty handed. Clark grabs his cape and puts it on instead.

“Look, Clark,” Bruce turns again and Clark jumps with the sudden action and because of the fact that he wasn’t prepared to get an eye full of Bruce’s... _Fuck!_ “I get that you took care of me and I thank you for that; though why you didn’t just have Alfred take care of me, I’ll never know.” Clark smiles at Bruce not knowing that Clark was trying to protect Bruce’s pride. “But- Why the hell are you smiling?”

This causes Clark to smile more despite his efforts to stop. “I’m sorry, go on.”

“Not when you’re smiling like that.” Bruce scowls. “Stop smiling.”

Clark starts to chuckle then. “I can’t help it, I’m sorry.”

“Eh,” Bruce gives a dismissal wave of his hand and turns back around to rinse himself off, giving up on Clark.

“No Bruce,” Clark takes two urgent steps towards him. “Really I’m sorry, what were you going to say?”

Bruce turns his head to peek behind himself, narrowing his eyes. “I was going to say that even though you decided to take on the burden of taking care of me, that doesn’t mean we need to talk about it.”

_Burden?_ “You weren’t a burden.” Clark’s smile all but disappears, leaving only a small quirk at the edges.

“Whatever,” Bruce stops looking at him. “It doesn’t matter because I don’t want to talk about it.”

Clark takes another step forward. “Why?”

Bruce bends his head back, closes his eyes, and sighs loudly. “Clark, I was just a four year old for the last few days and not even a half hour ago was turned back into a forty year old. I’m tired and we have Broorg to defeat. I’m _really_ not in the mood to do this right now and I’m certainly not doing it while I’m naked in the shower.”

“Well too bad.” Clark crosses his arms, getting serious. “I’m not going to just let you blow this whole thing off and never talk about it with me. So, yeah, we’re going to discuss it at least at some point.”

Bruce surges around and gets right up in his face, scowl firmly in place. Clark has angered him. “You don’t tell me what to do. You might have been able to get away with it when I was _four_ but I’m now older than you again _Kal_ , so don’t you _dare_ boss me around.” Bruce practically punches the shower off, shoves past Clark, and grabs a towel to wrap around his waist, leaving.

Clark sighs. _And once again, you’ve brilliantly screwed it up._ Clark takes his shower quickly, changes into the spare uniform he has in his quarters, then goes out to meet the others in the meeting room. Bruce is already there, dressed in the Batman suit, and Clark has to admit, it’s good to see again. He stops short from sitting down at his seat. His spot is next to Bruce and though he’s sat next to him before after pissing him off, this time feels different, though he’s certain it’s not because Bruce is mad at him. He figures it’s because he is used to Bruce sitting on his lap now and it feels weird to have the man beside him again. “Kal?” Diana asks and Clark snaps out of it, sitting down with a heavy sigh that he doesn’t even bother trying to hide.

During the meeting, Bruce asks to be filled in on what he’s missed and only the bare minimum of what Clark and he got up to while Clark was watching him. Clark wouldn’t meet his eyes. He knows he shouldn’t have ambushed Bruce in the shower like that, but knowing that they are _never_ going to talk about what happened, especially since Bruce doesn’t even remember, hurts Clark. Clark got so close and attached to the four year old Bruce that he feels like talking about it with said previous four year old is only fair and if not something Clark deserves. Clark feels like he lost something important, whether that be little Bruce himself or just the attachment that the two had, he’s not sure, but he does know with a feeling of dread and even a little loneliness that he’ll never get it back.

“So now that Batman is caught up with everything, it brings us to what we are going to do about the Broorg,” Shayera says.

Wally is the first one to say anything. “Is it too much to hope that now that Bats is back to his grown up broody self that they’ll leave us alone and go away?”

“They have de-aged captives,” Clark points out. “We can’t leave them there.”

Zatanna steps forward. “How many are there?”

Clark looks at her and Fate. “Too many for the two of you to turn back. But even if we can’t put them back to their regular age, they still don’t deserve to be kept captive and enslaved.”

“Okay, so hold on, what exactly are Broorg?” Wally asks. Clark explains it to him, telling him what Imogen had told him. John then tells them that from what he’s learned from being in the Green Lantern Corps, is that Broorg are a ruthless, very dangerous species. “So then how do we beat them?”

“We beat the Gorganeerians, how will these Broorg be any different?” Shayera asks.

John shakes his head. “Broorg are a lot more powerful and a lot more mean.”

Clark steals a glance towards Bruce who has been listening quietly. It’s not surprising that he doesn’t have anything to add, after all he’s the one with less knowledge than everyone about the situation, and it’s not weird that he would be silent even if he did have information, at least until he felt the need to inform them, but Clark can’t help but look at him and wonder what is going on in his head. _He’s so mysterious. Even when he was a kid, I still couldn’t figure him out._ “Doctor Fate, Zatanna, will you help us out in the fight?” he asks the two.

Zatanna smiles. “Of course.”

Fate takes a little longer to respond but eventually he says, “I will help.”

“Good,” Clark begins. “That gives us two magicians on our side.”

“Then that just leaves the rest of us to try our best,” J’onn inputs.

“Yeah,” Wally tips back in his chair, folding his arms behind his head. “And hope we don’t get our butts kicked.” He leans forward and his chair hits the floor with a loud clang. “Are you guys forgetting that Supes has no defenses against magic and supposedly these guys are stronger than those Gorganerians or whatever they are called, and the Gorganeerians are the ones that almost killed him?” Clark looks at Bruce to see if he has any reaction to that since they conveniently left that part out of their description of what happened when he was de-aged but Clark doesn’t see any outward acknowledgment and he can’t hear one either. “Bats has been de-aged by them, and the rest of us, we had our butts practically handed to us by the Gorganerians which, again, are weaker than these Broorg.” Wally throws his hands up in the air. “How do you expect us to defeat these guys?”

John holds up a fist, the hand with the Green Lantern ring on it. “With pure willpower.”

Wally gapes at him, Shayera shifts nervously, Diana’s hands turn into fists, J’onn straightens a little, Bruce just sits there, and Clark swallows hard. He knows how hard it is to fight the Broorg, he’s done it twice now, and he’s not so sure working off “pure willpower” will be enough. Unfortunately, however, it’s all they’ve got.

...

Clark enters the holding room that they have placed Imogen into. They’re currently waiting for the rest of the Broorg to arrive which Clark has a feeling is going to be soon. In the mean time they have to decide whether or not to send the Gorganeerians queen, her “chief executor”, Imogen, and Cormac to the Phantom Zone. As soon as Imogen sees him, she laughs. “Why hello Superman. What do I owe this visit?”

Clark keeps his distance. “The kid has been turned back.”

She looks surprised but quickly hides it. “That’s impossible, our spell is irreversible.”

“Apparently not.” He paces a little then stops, stares at her. “Are you one of the ones that de-aged him?”

Imogen scrutinizes him, looks him up and down, before answering. “No, I’m not normally assigned that.”

“Were you even on the ship that the kid and I were on?” Clark asks.

She shrugs. “No, that’s not my sector. I don’t handle the transportation and delivery of the ones that we de-age.”

“Then why were you sent to get the kid?” Clark takes a small step forward. “And why are you being so cooperative right now by answering my questions?”

“I was sent because I’m on the retrieval team. If there’s something that we need retrieved, which isn’t normally one of our captives, then Cormac and I are normally sent out to get it,” she begins. “As for my reasoning of why I’m answering your questions, I really don’t have much of choice now do I? I either answer them or you force me too, either with your fists, that pretty little rope that one woman has, or that telepath. I’ve decided to do the easy way.”

She’s smirking and he wants to wipe it off her face. Taking a deep breath, he asks next, “How long do we have until the rest of the retrieval team gets here? Will the ship with the other captives come too?”

Imogen’s smirk gets bigger. “I was supposed to rendezvous with the captive ship after I got the kid back.”

She stops there and Clark tries to not let the irritation show. “How long?”

Imogen doesn’t answer at first and instead just looks at him, smile still in place and a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Let’s just say I was supposed to have the kid by now.” Clark nods, understanding that answer means they should be here quite soon. He turns to leave and just before he gets to the door, Imogen speaks up again. “Wait, what are you going to do with me?” Clark turns halfway to face her. He’s not yet sure what they are going to do with the four captives that they have so he doesn’t have anything to tell her. Plus, she doesn’t need to know that they haven’t decided yet. He turns back around and leaves, hearing a faint huff from behind him.

He heads to where J’onn is. “Hey J’onn.” The Martian looks up from the console. “Back when we turned Bruce back into an adult you seemed a little nervous. Are you okay?”

“I am fine,” J’onn says. “I was just taken aback by how swift Bruce put up his mental blocks from me.”

Clark is surprised. “He didn’t let you read his mind? That quickly?”

J’onn nods. “Yes, I found it strange too. Bruce normally does keep me from reading his mind but after being so disoriented, I didn’t expect him to put those barriers up so fast.”

Clark is thoughtful. “Well he is a cautious man. Maybe it’s just an automatic thing?”

“Perhaps you are correct. I was able to read his mind for only a second before the blocks appeared so it does stand to reason that it is an automatic thing.” J’onn looks back to the console.

“Hey.” Both Clark and J’onn turn to John’s call. “Shayera, Diana, Wally, and I were just discussing a plan. We decided that Flash, Batman, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, and Zatanna will be on Earth to defend it. You two, Doctor Fate, and I will infiltrate the ship they come with.”

“They’re bringing the ship with the captives,” Clark informs him.

John smiles. “That’s even better. We’ll be able to kill two birds with one stone.” Clark and J’onn nod. “I’ll leave it up to you, Kal, to tell Batman. He’s been held up in his quarters since our meeting and won’t come out. Just yells at everyone to go away, even Wally.” John winks at the speedster being named and Clark smiles.

“I’ll talk to him.” John then leaves and J’onn goes back to whatever he was doing before Clark interrupted him. He goes to Bruce’s quarters and knocks.

There’s an immediate, “Go away!”

Sighing, Clark knocks again. “Bruce it’s me.”

“You especially go away,” comes the reply.

“I will break this door down if you don’t let me in,” Clark threatens. “And you know a reporter’s salary will not be able to pay for a new door upon the Justice League’s Watchtower which means you’ll have to-” The door opens just before he finishes his sentence. Clark beams in victory.

Stepping into the room, he sees Bruce out of his suit, dressed in a white tank top and black sweatpants, and tinkering with the suit. “What do you want this time?”

Clark shuts the door behind him and sees Bruce’s shoulders tense. “John, Shayera, Diana, and Wally have come up with a chain of action.”

Bruce is struggling with something on his suit and Clark takes a step closer to investigate. “Which is?” His hand slips. “Damn it!”

“Bruce.” Clark goes up to him and helps Bruce get... whatever the thing is, Clark isn’t really sure, onto the Bat suit. “There.”

“I could have gotten it,” Bruce stubbornly says and then begins to work on another part of the suit. Clark isn’t really sure what is so important that Bruce is willing to be out of the costume hours, maybe minutes, before the Broorg attack.

“I brought your utility belt back.” Bruce looks up at him then, a questioning look on his face. “Before they took you away to do the de-aging ritual, they stripped you.” Bruce looks away at that. Clark isn’t a fool, he knows what Batman’s job entails and what Bruce has had to do to get what he wants. The ends always justify the means when it comes to Batman, even if it means seducing someone he doesn’t want to seduce to get there, even if it means _doing_ something he doesn’t want to do. Clark knows what goes on with those plans and he definitely knows that sometimes things don’t always go the way Bruce wanted, no matter how much Batman prepares, and sometimes those seduction plans turn out worse than putting the fear of the Bat in someone. To say that Batman has ever been _forced_ into sex, except with Talia Al Ghul in which she got impregnated with Damian, against his will isn’t exactly correct, after all, Batman would be able to fend off someone who tried unless they were stronger than him or he was drugged, and as far as Clark knows, that’s only happened once with Talia. But to say that Batman has never given consent when he really didn’t want to would be a lie. Brucie might be the publicly labeled playboy but it’s Batman who really knows how to play someone, even if it damages himself in the process. “They piled your suit with some other clothes from the other captives,” he continues, not wanting to dwell on the obvious invasion of privacy that the Broorg put Bruce through. “I couldn’t bring you and the whole suit back with me so I just brought the utility belt. You’re actually the one who carried it.”

Bruce looks back to him. “The whole time?”

“Most of the time.” Clark smiles at him. “I thought you wouldn’t like some magicians to have your utility belt at their disposal.” Clark doesn’t bother telling him that he left the belt in here because he knows Bruce has already seen it and taken care of it.

Bruce looks down at his suit again. “Thank you Clark,” he says quietly, so quiet that Clark has to use his super hearing to hear. Bruce rubs his face, sighs, and looks at him. “What’s the plan?”

“You, Shayera, Diana, Wally, and Zatanna will be fighting on Earth while J’onn, John, Doctor Fate, and I infiltrate the ship to free the captives,” he answers and Bruce nods.

There’s silence after that which kind of surprises Clark. He expected Bruce to pitch a fit that they came up with this plan without a formal meeting or without his own input. Instead he stays quiet in order to indicate that the conversation and visit is over. Slumping, Clark turns to leave. Before he gets to the door, however, Clark feels a tug at his cape. “Wait, don’t go!” Bruce says urgently. Clark turns around to look at him, wondering what changed his mind of having the conversation be over. “What if you die?” Clark’s mind immediately flashes to kid Bruce saying the same thing just before he left to fight the Gorganeerians. Bruce lets go of his cape and Clark can’t see any recognition of that statement on his face. _Is it just a coincidence?_ “You are going to infiltrate a ship full of Broorg that can use magic with only one other person who can also use magic and without someone who is an expert at sneaking into places. I mean, you barge into places, J’onn can be translucent but can still be seen, Doctor Fate can be impulsive at times, and John, John glows green.” Clark covers his mouth with his hand to hide his chuckle. Bruce is rambling and Clark finds it adorable. “You guys really think with a team like that you’ll be able to successfully sneak into that ship? You were on that ship right? It’s the same one?” Clark nods. “Then you should know what it’s like on it. So do _you_ really think that team can go without someone who is used to doing things like that? Sometimes I wonder about you people and the way you think. If it was me, I would have gone to you, asked what the ship was like when you were on it, and _then_ formed the teams. But no, you all just go with the first plan that you come up with not bothering to come to the guy that actually _knows_ what he is talking about.” By now, Clark can’t hide his laugh. _No, it was definitely just a coincidence. Bruce still doesn’t remember._ “What? What’s so funny?”

“Nothing Bruce.” Clark chuckles a few more times and has to look away from Bruce’s exasperated look before calming down. Taking a couple of deep breaths, he continues. “Bruce, is this your way of saying you should come with the infiltrating team?”

Clark watches Bruce swallow, compose himself within seconds, and then cross his arms across his chest. “I should come because you idiots will need me.”

Clark looks to the floor with another small chuckle. “Okay, you can come.” Bruce huffs and Clark turns to leave again with a shake of his head. “You should get dressed, they’ll be here soon.” He then leaves, not missing the small sigh Bruce lets out as soon as the door shuts.

Clark goes to make sure that everyone knows the change of plans and then after that, it’s just the waiting game. At some point, Bruce comes out of his quarters and joins them in the room that they are all in; debating on what to do with the aliens they have in their custody. By some kind of unanimous vote, they all decide to wait until they have defeated the Broorg to do anything about them, though they are leaning towards exiling them from Earth instead of sending them to the Phantom Zone. After all, the Phantom Zone tends to be a last resort short of killing them.

It’s an hour before the alarms in the Watchtower sound, alerting them to the incoming danger. The whole team exchange quick glances before rushing to either the teleportation tubes or to the hangar. Clark and his group go to the hangar and John activates his ring to form a bubble around Bruce, J’onn, and Doctor Fate. Once they are all ready they leave, making the silent journey to the ship. Clark follows John who follows Batman’s orders. John takes them to a side of the ship that isn’t being exited by Broorg magicians and waits for an opening. Clark watches as the twenty or so Broorg head straight to Earth and hopes the team down there will be able to fend them off long enough for the rest of the League to join. When the last of the Broorg exits, Batman tells John to enter the ship.

It’s an easy entrance with no one guarding the door. The hangar is also empty. Batman steps up next to him, looking around at the wide expanse of the room. “You remember this place?”

Batman takes no time to answer. “No.” He then moves on. Clark supposes that maybe it is better that he doesn’t remember, at least this part. After all, he was only four the last time he was in this room and Clark doesn’t want Bruce to feel that fear again by reliving the memories. “Superman?” Clark snaps out of his thoughts. “Come on.”

Clark floats to catch up and then leads the way to the room that has the captives, pleased that they still don’t believe in guards. As soon as he enters, he can already tell some of them are missing. A wave of guilt washes over him as he scans the room and sees how _empty_ it is. There’s only five occupied cages, each one with a de-aged captive in it, when before there must have been up to fifteen. Clark assumes that the five that are there now are the adults that he saw when he and Bruce were also captured. “There’s...”

“There’s not as many,” Bruce fills in the rest for him. John asks for clarification but Clark is too stunned and guilt ridden to answer. So instead Bruce does. “When Superman and I were here there had to be about fifteen captives. Now there are only five.”

“This is all my fault.” Clark walks up to a cage and can tell even before touching it that it’s surrounded in magic. “I should have come back sooner.” _Oh gosh, he promised child Bruce that all the children were okay! Now they’re... they’re..._

Batman walks up beside him and places a hand on Clark’s shoulder. It’s the nicest he’s been since he’s been turned back. “It’s not your fault Superman.” Clark bows his head and allows Fate to open each of the cages. They each then take a sleeping child into their arms and start making their way back to the hangar. Each child is of a different species of alien, none looking like a human. It’s not a big deal, not when there are plenty of aliens, good and bad, that don’t look like humans on Earth, but the complications arise when they try to figure out what to do with them. Should they try to find out where they came from and send them back? Would they be accepted back? Would their family like to have them back, even as children, or would they have rather been left with the idea that they were dead? Or maybe Doctor Fate and Zatanna can turn them back after all since there are only five of them. Clark guesses he’ll just have to wait and see.

John hands the child he is carrying to Clark and then forms a bubble around all of them. They quickly go back to the Watchtower and drop the children off in the medical bay, Fate putting a sleeping spell on all of them in order for them to sleep during the duration that the League members will be gone. “Are you sure the spell will last long enough? We don’t need them wandering around the Watchtower alone.”

“I could always stay and monitor them,” J’onn suggests.

Fate shakes his head. “We will need you in the upcoming fight.” He then turns to Clark. “Don’t worry, the spell lasts for twenty-four hours. They shouldn’t wake up again until this time tomorrow morning.”

Clark feels Batman walk up to him and stand beside him as they watch J’onn hook up the children to the medical beds. Clark is certain he’s about to hear how much Bruce doesn’t like leaving the kids here unattended but instead he says, “That was a little too easy wasn’t?”

Clark blinks at him. “They didn’t have any guards when I escaped with you either.”

“But why leave the ship with no one on it at all?” Bruce asks. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“Maybe they’re so arrogant that they think they don’t need to have anyone guarding the ship,” Clark says.

Bruce is quiet and it isn’t until they are ready to join their comrades on Earth that he speaks again. “I doubt that’s the case. Even when you escaped there must have been someone on the ship to try and stop you, right?”

“Well, yeah but they weren’t guarding me and were in the hangar working on their ships,” Clark explains. “And besides, they also weren’t about to go fight on a planet.”

“I don’t like it.” Clark doesn’t have time to comment to Bruce’s statement as that is the time they are teleported down to Earth, right in the midst of the battle.

The first thing Clark notices is that it is complete chaos. The group that was sent down here already are horribly outnumbered four to twenty. Clark is actually amazed that they have been able to stay alive for so long. Flash has surrounded five of them in a whirlwind by running around them, Shayera is blocking any magic thrown at her with her mace and then hitting them with it, Wonder Woman is also blocking the magic with her bracelets and getting a few hits in as well, and Zatanna is fighting with her own doses of magic. Despite the chaos they are holding their own, even with a few bleeding scratches and bruises.

Clark is knocked back by a stray beam of magic that was meant to hit the speedster but missed when Wally dodged. It didn’t hurt that much, must have been from one of the weaker Broorg, but it does steer him into action. He fights along his comrades, punching and using his heat vision on them. After fighting the Broorg twice and the Gorganeerians once, Clark has picked up a few things about how to attack them successfully. He relies on his heat vision the most as the war between Justice League and Broorg continues, remembering how it was a good distraction and defense in both fights with the Broorg and Gorganeerians. When he tries to fight alongside Diana and Shayera, the only two besides possibly Doctor Fate and Zatanna strong enough to have a viable defense against the Broorg’s magic, Clark is ordered to stick to the weaker ones by Batman. Of course, he doesn’t listen, but it does make Clark feel a little warm inside that Bruce is looking out for him, at least in his own way.

He flies up next to Diana and helps her but he’d be lying if he said it was easy. At one point a blow from a magic encased fist to his jaw causes him to come crashing down to the Earth, creating yet another crater in the road. He tastes blood and spits it onto the ground as he struggles to get back up. “Damn it Superman,” Batman is beside him, yanking at his arm. Unlike last time when adult Bruce did this, he manages to get him up enough for Clark to stand the rest of the way up by himself. “I told you to stick to the ones that are weaker.”

“And you should know that’s not going to happen.” Clark hears the growl that Batman gives him, sees the threatening snarl forming on his lips, but doesn’t back down. This isn’t the time to get into a fight with Batman. “I’m going to help wherever I can.”

“You can’t help if you’re dead but you’re too stubborn to keep that in mind.” Batman’s hands turn into fists and Clark knows he’s glaring at him with narrowed eyes underneath those white lenses.

“Says the most stubborn man I know,” Clark counters.

Batman turns away with an annoyed huff but doesn’t leave. Clark shakes his head in his own annoyance. Looking back up to Diana, he sees she’s pretty much got it handled. Since the rest of the League has joined, the odds changed to nine to twenty. It’s still not the greatest but the League also has the best of the best, even with Superman not being able to fight well against magic. They’ve already taken out quite a few of the Broorg. “The ones that aren’t knocked out are retreating.”

“The weaker ones you think?” Clark asks Batman.

“I would assume so.” Clark looks around and notices the multiple Broorg that are retreating back to their ship, shouting orders that he can’t understand. “They’re either the weaker ones and think their teammates that haven’t fallen to us yet are going to finish the fight or we are actually winning.” Batman looks to the sky. “I still don’t understand why they left their ship unattended.”

Before Clark can answer him they both have to dodge out of the way of a magic shot. Clark takes the one that shot it out easily as it was one of the weaker Broorg that have yet to retreat. He then lands next to Batman where he is crouched amongst some rubble. “I still think you’re over thinking it.”

Batman looks to the sky once again. “We should have stayed on that ship and investigated.”

“We were needed down here,” Clark says.

“It would have kept you out of trouble and somewhat safe,” Bruce says as if he didn’t even hear what Clark just said.

Clark is at a loss of why Bruce is acting like this. “Why are you saying all this? Why are you acting like this?” Batman turns to him without an answer, mouth parted slightly. That’s when Clark notices something that he can’t believe he didn’t realize long before now. “Wait a minute; I can’t hear your heartbeat.”

“That device I was putting on my suit earlier, it suppresses the sound of my heartbeat.” Clark stares at him in shocked disbelief. “I don’t know if the Broorg can use magic to enhance their hearing. These keep them from hearing my heartbeat if they do.”

It only takes Clark a second to respond. “Take it off.”

Bruce looks taken aback. “What?”

“Take it off.” Clark reaches for where he had placed the device earlier but his hand is slapped away.

“Leave it alone,” Bruce retorts, irritated.

“No I need...” Clark trails off not really sure how to say what he wants without royally embarrassing himself.

Clark can _feel_ the eye roll Bruce gives him as he brings his attention back to the sky. “You can get your heartbeat fix later.” Clark’s cheeks heat up. _Bruce knows he listens to his heartbeat! Since when?_  Clark opens and shuts his mouth like a fish out of water, trying frantically to think of something to say. Bruce pays no attention to him though. “I need to get back on that ship.”

Just as Clark is about to protest there is a blinding flash of light in the sky. Everyone stops what they are doing, even the Broorg, and watches. As the light dissipates, the Broorg start to cheer. “They blew the ship up,” Clark says. Batman doesn’t say anything, only watches just as stunned as Clark is. Clark looks to him. _Now who would have been the dead one?_ As the cheering comes to a stop, the Broorg begin to attack again. “They blew up their own people!”

The fight continues except this time it’s more brutal, as if the death of their men renewed some of the remaining Broorg’s energy. Clark doesn’t understand how they could do such a thing, knows that if they hadn’t gotten the de-aged kids off that they would be dead as well, and wonder how the rest of the Broorg are going to leave Earth without a ship. Batman dodges some magic off to Clark’s side and before Clark knows it, he’s thrust back into the battle with no more time to talk. He fights the best he can, continuing with his tactic of using his heat vision. He also begins to use his freeze breath as another way of distracting the Broorg long enough to attack them.

After the retreat and death of the Broorg that went back to the ship, there were only eleven Broorg left to fight. Diana and Shayera each are fighting two Broorg at the same time while the rest of them are fighting just one. Someone presses against his back. It’s Bruce who is back to back with him, still in a fighting stance. He pulls something out of his utility belt and throws it, smoke coming out of the small balls. Clark charges the Broorg that he is fighting, breathing the cold air onto them and dodging the magic they shoot out. The air hits them, causing the Broorg to stumble backwards and allows Clark enough time to punch him. He knocks him out with that one punch.

He turns to Bruce, wondering if the man will need his help but then he sees Bruce’s Broorg is knocked out as well and he is now helping Green Lantern. Fate is helping Shayera after he defeated his own Broorg, Flash is still fighting his and so is Zatanna. J’onn has his hands on either side of one of the Broorg’s head, his eyes glowing and the Broorg’s face contorted in pain. Clark flies up to help Diana. With the both of them working together, they soon defeat those two as well.

Clark looks around and notices that all the Broorg are finally finished. He’s panting and feeling a bit weak so he lands, Diana following him and placing a hand on his shoulder. “Are you alright?”

He nods. “Yeah, just a bit worn out.”

“From what I understand, you haven’t had much time to rest in between fights,” Bruce says as he comes up to the two of them. Diana releases his shoulder and Clark takes the opportunity to slouch a little in exhaustion.

Flash crosses his arms as he and the rest of the members join the three. “Why do you think they blew up their own ship with their own people on it?”

Clark turns to the speedster. “I don’t know but I do know exactly who to ask.”

...

Getting back to the Watchtower takes a little longer than Clark first anticipated. They had to talk to the army and the police then they had to decide what to do with the knocked out Broorg. The army wanted to take them, probably to do experiments on and study, but the League refused to allow it. Instead, Doctor Fate offered to take care of them, said some spell, and sent them somewhere. When Clark tried asking where he had sent the Broorg, Fate only avoided answering the question. This gave Clark an indication that he _really_ didn’t want to know where. Bruce will most likely find out later and if Clark is really inclined or becomes curious enough, then he’ll ask him.

Next on the agenda was making sure every civilian was okay which they were. Some only had a few scrapes and bruises but other than that, nothing serious happened. They were then free to go, the League promising to come back soon in order to help rebuild anything that was damaged in the fight. Soon after, they are back on the tower and Clark heads straight to Imogen, the rest of the League following. Once there, they decide that Clark should go in alone since it seems like she responds to him best.

He walks in and sits down at the table that is bolted to the floor in the middle of the room. Imogen smiles and joins him, sitting in the chair opposite him. “So, I’m assuming you won.”

Clark nods. “We did but only because some of the Broorg retreated and then got blown up.” He studies her. “You don’t look surprised.”

She shrugs. “Because I’m not. Losing a battle isn’t Broorg style. When we know some of the team members are weak and holding us back, then we take care of them... meaning we kill them.”

“Why?” Clark asks.

She takes a deep breath. “Let me explain something to you first. As soon as I didn’t make it to the meet up, they knew something was wrong and what they had to do. They knew who they were going to fight since this is Earth and everyone has heard of arrogant Earth.” Clark stops himself from snorting at the irony of her saying that when her own species sounds just as, if not more, arrogant than humans. “They knew they would have to fight the Justice League and since we rely mostly on magic, they knew that in the end they wouldn’t win and I’m sure they were pretty weak to begin with. After all, it was only the transportation and de-aging crew. It’s not like they were warriors. Besides, if by some miracle they did win, then who wants a pissed off Justice League on their ass? The weaklings should be glad that they died.”

“But killing them?” Clark says. “It doesn’t make sense. What you just told me doesn’t make any sense. Not all of them died anyways.”

Imogen shrugs again. “It happens all the time with Broorg war. You either have victory or you die because you’re weak. You don’t go back home empty handed. It’s a disgrace and the higher ranks will then kill you if your other teammates don’t. And about the ones that didn’t die, if you hadn’t defeated them when you did and the fight had gone on longer, they would be dead now too. Not because they are weak, they probably didn’t die with the others because they were probably strong, but higher ups would have definitely killed them. Either way, the ones that came today are only third from the bottom of the hierarchy. They weren’t all that important.”

“How can you say that?” Clark asks, flabbergasted. “They were your own kind.”

“So,” She looks bored. “It’s not like I cared all that much about them. It’s the same with Cormac. He could die anytime and I wouldn’t care. They’re not in the same hierarchy as I am so I have no need to care about them.”

Clark shakes his head in disappointment. “Then what about the captives? They would have blown them up, killed them.”

“Just a few sacrifices in order to reach our goal. There’s _always_ more where they came from. We can always get more to replace the ones that were sacrificed,” she says. “It’s really not that big a deal.” Her face then twitches with realization. “Did you say ‘would have’?”

Clark nods. “Yeah, we got them out.”

Imogen laughs. “And what are you going to do with them? Raise them like you were trying to do with that little boy? Sorry to break it to you Superman, but unlike you, the aliens that you rescued don’t look like humans. They would be exiled before you know it.” Clark doesn’t say anything so she goes on. “Have you checked on them?”

“Why?” Clark asks, going on alert.

“You might want to check on them.” She laughs again. “Your Batman isn’t the only one that has contingency plans.”

Hearing that, Clark rushes out of the room and heads straight to the medical bay with Batman, J’onn, and Doctor Fate close behind him. He enters the room and looks towards the kids. Each of them are bright red and sweat drenched. “What’s happening?”

J’onn goes up to one of them. “They have a high fever. I must try and get it down.” Bruce is the closest to the freezer so he immediately turns around and rummages through it. He produces a few ice packs and quickly hands them to J’onn.

Doctor Fate then walks up to one of the children. “They must have put a spell on them that caused them to develop a fever.”

“Can you reverse it?” Clark asks as Zatanna walks in along with the rest of the League.

“I can try. Zatanna, I need you to try reversing whatever spell they put on these children to cause such a fever.” Zatanna nods and heads to one of the beds with a little boy in it. Doctor Fate then starts to work on a little girl while J’onn places the ice packs down on their foreheads. A few minutes later and Fate stops his chanting. “This isn’t working.”

“Then what are we supposed to do?” Wally asks.

Zatanna stops then too and listens. Fate takes a minute to answer but eventually shakes his head. “I’m not sure. I don’t even know what spell they used since it’s an alien one.”

“I couldn’t tell either,” Zatanna says. “And whatever it is, it’s powerful.”

“We can’t let them die,” Batman says.

J’onn backs up from the beds. “I don’t know what else we can do.” Clark watches Batman’s shoulders slump in dismay. He knows what his Bat is feeling right now since Clark is feeling it too. “I’m sorry.” Clark looks to the floor. It was Batman and Superman’s initial job to save these captives; after all, they were the ones that were sent on the mission in the first place. It was their duty. But now all they’ve managed to do is fail. They’ve failed in every way possible.

“Well I refuse to let these kids die because of some sadistic Broorg.” Everyone turns to John. “Can you keep them stable long enough for me to try and figure out what spell they used?” he asks Zatanna.

“I can try,” she says.

John then turns to Doctor Fate. “Fate, you and I are going to contact the Green Lanterns, see if they know anything.” John leads Fate out of the room in a rush, heading to where he needs to be in order to contact the Green Lantern Corps.

Clark pulls up a chair to the end of one of the beds that way he can overlook each one. He refuses to leave their bedside when they are his responsibility. The rest of the League goes back to the four captives’ rooms, worried that this could be a distraction to try and escape. The only ones that stay are Zatanna and Bruce. Bruce pulls a chair up beside him, sighs as he sits, and takes his cowl off. Zatanna is concentrating on the spell and five children too much to notice.

Clark sees he has a swollen cheek, the bruise having a slight red color to it, but other than that Bruce seems pretty unscathed. “It’s been a long time since I’ve failed this bad,” Bruce murmurs.

“Same here,” Clark mutters back. “It sucks. I don’t know what happened to the other ten captives. They could be dead or enslaved. Now I can’t even save the last five.”

“John and Fate will figure it out.” Bruce looks at him. “Besides, you managed to save me.”

Clark huffs. “Yeah, at the cost of the others.” _Kid Bruce was right, there’s always a cost._

Bruce leans back in his chair. “You didn’t know they were going to do this Clark.”

He doesn’t say anything back to that and allows the silence between them to stretch, the only noise in the room being the monitors hooked to the kids and Zatanna’s magic. Clark eventually breaks it. “I didn’t send you to Alfred because I thought I would save you and your pride from the boys being able to tease you about being de-aged. At the time I thought it was the right thing to do and what you would want.”

Bruce’s eyes flicker to Zatanna but the woman is still too engrossed in what she is doing to hear what is being said. “It was the right thing.” The corner of Bruce’s lips twitch up a little as he looks at Clark. “Thank you.”

Clark sighs. “How would you know? You don’t remember any of it.” Bruce’s small quirk of his lips falls. “And you don’t want to talk about it.” Bruce turns his gaze away from Clark and stays silent. That’s how they remain; no more words being exchanged between them, until John and Doctor Fate come rushing back in. They found a way to save the children and with Zatanna’s help, Fate does the spell to each child. Soon, the monitors are no longer alerting them to the kids’ impending death and instead tell them that they are stable.

Clark honestly feels like crying even though the de-aged children are safe once again and jumps when a hand is placed on his thigh. He looks to Bruce, who has placed his cowl back on, with tear filled eyes and Bruce graces Clark with one of his rare, sympathetic smiles. “Come Clark, we have more work to do,” he says quietly, soothingly, and Clark nods, getting up, and following Bruce out of the room.

Clark, along with Fate and Zatanna, follow Bruce back out and to the holding rooms they have their captives in. The other Justice League members are there. "They're safe now. Fate and Zatanna figured out how to reverse the fever spell," Clark says.

All the members nod and sigh in relief. "We are going to have to do something with them though," Batman informs.

"I will deal with them as well." Fate begins to walk towards the medical bay. "Zatanna, I was thinking since there are only five of them that we can turn them back to adults like we did Batman. I would like to do this at my place, however, where I have more material at my disposal." He then leaves and Zatanna follows along, agreeing to help. J’onn follows as well to oversee them taking the children away.

Clark sighs and then feels a heavy hand placed on his shoulder. He looks over and sees Batman. Bruce addresses all of them, however, instead of just Clark. "We now have to deal with the Gorganerians and Broorg still in our custody. Are we absolutely positive we just want to send them away instead of to the Phantom Zone?"

Clark steps up to his Superman duties. "Even if they come back in the future they don't deserve the Phantom Zone. If and when they come back then we'll deal with them then."

"Even though they tried to kill children and they killed their own?" Bruce asks, staring him in the eyes. "The Broorg at least."

Clark crosses his arms in order to look more confident than he feels. "Imogen and Cormac aren't the ones who killed them and the Broorg that did are already taken care of by Fate."

Bruce nods and then starts heading towards one of the rooms. "We'll start with the Gorganerians then." Everyone follows Batman into the room that is holding the Gorganerians queen's "chief executor".

Bruce and everyone else leave it up to Superman to explain what is going to happen with him. "You'll be let go on the one condition that you _never_ come back to Earth. If we catch you back here then you'll get more than just being sent off."

They decide to release the aliens one by one in order to discourage any fighting back. They send the "chief executor" off and then go to the queen. Clark repeats the process and then again when they get to Cormac. Cormac leaves the quickest, still not saying anything which Clark finds odd, and he seems a bit panicked.

Next is the one they decided to leave until last: Imogen. "Oh, why hello Batman. I finally meet you when you're full grown." Bruce doesn't say anything. "You were one cute little kid. Do you remember any of it?" Bruce still doesn't say anything and Clark is sure he has his eyes narrowed under those lenses. "I'll take that as you don't. Huh, interesting."

"Imogen," Clark cuts in. "You’re being exiled from Earth. You'll be let go on the one condition that you _never_ come back to Earth. If we catch you back here then you'll get more than just being sent off."

"Oh don't worry Superman," she says. "I have no interest in coming back to this awful planet." She walks up to him and rubs her hand along his jaw, Batman catching her wrist with a low growl. She eyes him before looking back to Clark with a wicked smile. "The only thing I'll be missing is you. You were fun." She yanks her wrist out of Batman's grip that looked like it was tight enough to hurt. Imogen doesn't seem fazed, however.

Clark doesn't give her the satisfaction of an answer and instead starts to lead her to where they sent the others off. Once there, she says goodbye in an easy tone but Clark stops her quickly. “Wait, before you go, I want to know why you and Cormac don’t need to be killed or are you two just going to be killed by your higher ups?”

Imogen smirks at him as she slowly walks away to the small aircraft she will be using to get off of the Watchtower. “Oh don’t worry, I’m going to kill Cormac and as for me, well, I’m in a higher position in the hierarchy myself. I’m allowed to go back home and won’t be reprimanded for my failure. Though it will be awfully embarrassing. Goodbye Superman, I’m sure we _won’t_ be seeing each other again.”

“You can’t kill him,” Clark calls after her but she is already hopping into the ship and taking off. Clark can only hope Cormac got far enough away to avoid getting killed by her and that he is smart enough not to return to any of the Vulbir planets. They all clear the hangar then and watch her leave, Clark being glad he’ll never see her again. He does feel like someday they should do something about them de-aging people and then enslaving them but that will be a worry for another day.

Wally yawns and stretches. “I don’t know about you guys but I could really use a long nap.”

John smiles next to him. “I hear you there kid. Who is willing to take first shift on monitor duty?”

“I’ll do it,” Clark offers without hesitating. He’s tired and a little sore but he also really doesn’t feel like going home to his empty apartment right now and not having a little Bruce Wayne running around with his plushie. Plus, he’s really not in the mood to get rid of any of the things that he bought the child either. So instead he’s going to do monitor duty.

“I’ll do it too,” Diana offers.

“Alright then I guess I’ll do it next shift. Who wants to join?” John asks next.

“I will,” Shayera says just as J’onn comes back.

 “The children have been taken care of. Zatanna and Doctor Fate have given their regards and left as well,” J’onn says then looks to John. “I’ll do watch duty after you and Shayera.”

“Then I guess that leaves me to join with you, J’onn,” Wally announces.

They all then turn to Batman except for Clark who keeps his eyes downcast to the floor. The feelings that he had earlier, the feelings of missing child Bruce, have come back now that he doesn’t have a fight to distract him. “I won’t be doing any today.”

They all seem to accept that and then begin to leave, saying their goodnights despite it not being night time. Batman stays, however, and Diana leaves the two alone, placing a comforting hand on Clark’s shoulder and giving him a small smile. “You must be tired,” Clark says as soon as the Amazonian Princess is gone. Batman doesn’t say anything and doesn’t even look at him. “I’m sure the boys will be happy to see you. J’onn told them you were going to be stuck up on the Watchtower for a few days working on something. I’m pretty sure Dick thought it was suspicious that you were going to be away from Gotham for so long. So when you go home he might come see you and ask you questions and we all know how you hate answering questions. You can tell them what happened if you want. Since they didn’t _see_ you as a child they will have significantly less ammunition to tease you with than if they actually did see you. I guess that was my point of not leaving you with Alfred like I explained earlier. I know how precious your pride is and all and, even if you don’t want to admit it, I know you care a lot about how those boys perceive you.” He hears Bruce quietly sigh with exhaustion but he pays it no attention, not seeming to be able to stop babbling. “Ah, but, of course, if you don’t want to tell them anything then you’ll find a way to avoid answering any questions they might have. I’m sure it’ll only be Dick who asks though and maybe Tim. Damian is an oddball and can go either way with whether or not he questions you and Jason will probably be curious but not ask about it. Also, Alfred will probably be over joyed to see you but he’ll keep his composed self and only show how much he enjoys having you back by cooking and giving snarky, sarcastic comments. That’s where I think you get it from you know? You do it all the time and if you listen to how Alfred talks to you then you would be able to-”

“Clark,” Bruce interrupts, sounding really tired.

“What?” Clark stops and blinks.

Bruce sighs again. “You’re rambling.”

Bruce finally looks to him and Clark blushes. “Oh, sorry.” Clark shifts his weight and eventually decides to just float that way he won’t fidget around.

There’s a small quirk of Bruce’s lips, almost as if he’s amused but Clark is sure that’s not it. _Or is it?_ “I stayed in order to-” Bruce cuts himself off, bites his bottom lip, and then says, “Nothing.”

Clark frowns “What? What were you going to say?”

“It doesn’t matter Clark.” Clark’s heart sinks. Bruce was so close to letting his guard down just a little in order to tell Clark something but because he had to go and blab on and on, Clark ruined it. Now he’ll never know what Bruce was going to tell him. “Goodnight Clark.”

Clark watches him walk away but then remembers something. “Bruce wait!” Bruce stops and turns around. “I’m sorry.”

Bruce is the one to frown this time. “For what?”

“Not listening to you when we were sent on the mission the first time,” Clark says. “You told me to apologize to you when we made it out alive and I haven’t done that yet so... I’m sorry.” Bruce stares at him, lips parted the tiniest little bit, kind of like earlier. He then shuts his mouth, gives a quick nod, and turns to leave. Clark watches him go. Clark, exhaling loudly, then makes his way to the lookout where Diana is waiting for him.

He takes a seat next to Diana once he reaches the room. "You okay?" She asks.

Clark sighs and rests his chin in his hand. "I think so."

She watches him. "You don't look it."

"Bruce was just about to tell me something but then I screwed it up." She raises an eyebrow at him and he rolls his eyes. "You know how he is."

"But that's not all that is bothering you," she says.

Clark shakes his head. "No it's not." He makes a small anguished sound. "Oh Diana, I don't even want to go home because I know he's not going to be there. Even though we argued at times he was still a real joy to have around. He liked it too and now he doesn't..." He swallows. "He doesn't even remember any of it."

"And him not remembering is what pains you the most?" She asks.

Clark shrugs. "I just miss him overall but if he had just _remembered_ then I feel like it would have made it a little better because then at least I could _talk_ about it with him and share with him how I'm feeling."

Diana leans back in her chair and looks out the window at the vast spans of space and Earth below them. "You look tired Kal."

Clark rubs at his face with a tired huff. "I am tired but, again, I can't bring myself to go back to my apartment right now."

She nods. "Maybe you should try talking to Bruce about it anyways. You have to go back to your apartment eventually, Kal, and if that is what is keeping you from going then you need to work it out."

"He doesn't want to talk to me about it though," Clark says. "Besides, that's not the reason why I can't go back. My apartment is just going to feel empty and quiet without him there and all I'll be left with are memories."

"But good memories," Diana says.

"Yeah... but they just make me miss him as a child now." He frowns.

"Kal," He looks over to his comrade and friend. "I think what you need to do now is accept that you enjoyed him as a child but realize that now you can continue to enjoy him as an adult and someone you love immensely just like you did before this whole thing happened. Try to stay positive of why having the adult version of Bruce back is good." She smiles at him. "You have your _best friend_ back, Kal. What more could you ask for?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
> 
> Updates will be every Friday. Next update scheduled for: 1/15/16 EST. To see a full list of dates, please go [here](http://angelcamael.tumblr.com/post/132217933841/loss-of-time).


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the condolences. Though I still feel a little sad when thinking about my grandfather, I am healing and feeling better day by day. Thank you again. You all are such wonderful people. :)
> 
> I hope you enjoy this last chapter.

Clark lands on his balcony with a small thump after checking to make sure no one is around to see. Entering his apartment with a heavy sigh, he tries _not_ to look around and bring back all those memories with child Bruce. Of course, they come back anyway and a heaviness settles in his chest. _Think positive._ He goes to his kitchen and starts to make something for supper. Except halfway through cooking the chicken and potatoes, he decides against having any of it. Knowing his mother would be disappointed in him if he just threw the food away, he continues to make it while ordering Chinese, and then once it’s done he puts it into containers and into the refrigerator. He eats his Chinese as soon as it arrives, sitting silently at his dining room table, and then after, he picks out a movie to watch. Clark can’t bring himself to enter his bedroom quite yet and as much as he knows how pathetic it is, he wants to put off _having to_ go into his room for as long as possible. So instead, he’ll watch a movie even though it is quite late. It’s not like Clark has work tomorrow anyways.

Just before Clark is ready to pop the DVD into the DVD player, there is a knock on the door. Glancing at the clock and seeing that it is 11:30, he wonders who it could be at such a late hour. The knock comes again and Clark goes to answer the door. When he sees who is on the other side he's kind of shocked. "For someone with super speed, it took you long enough to answer the door." Clark stares at Bruce, mouth agape. "Are you going to let me in?"

"What?" Clark shakes his head to clear it. "Oh, right, yeah come in." He stands aside to let the man in. "What are you doing here?"

Bruce takes in the environment even though nothing has changed since the last time he was here, as an adult or a kid. "Best friends can't hang out anymore?"

"But..." Clark stammers. "We don't normally hang out."

"We do when I'm a four year old though?" Bruce raises an eyebrow.

"That was special circumstances," Clark says and Bruce hums his agreement.

"Maybe we should start then," Bruce mumbles and it takes Clark by such surprise he decides not to comment about it.

Instead he says only to change the subject, "Hey Bruce, I wanted to ask you. That device you put on that one Broorg's shoulder, before this whole mess, when it was just you and me fighting them, what was that thing?"

Bruce shrugs. "It was a new gadget I had come up with. It produces a silent, very painful, pulse into the body, enough to incapacitate whoever it is on but not enough to kill them. It would seem the Broorg had some resistance to it though."

"I think you're right about the resistance. When they took it off the Broorg, he brushed it away as if it was nothing."

"Well I only had the opportunity to test it on myself before using it. I would have liked to have tested it more but couldn't before we got assigned the mission," Bruce explains.

Clark looks at him in alarm. "Wait, you tested it on yourself? Bruce, that's like you're torturing yourself."

Bruce shrugs again. "So, I test all my non-deadly gadgets on myself. The deadly ones I test on dummies. For example explosives."

Clark just blinks. “Then what about the device that blocks your heartbeat? Are you… are you planning on using that all the time now?”

Bruce eyes him and allows the right corner of his lips to rise a little. “No, I won’t be. That was only for the Broorg. Unless…” He takes a step towards Clark and practically purrs, “You think I should keep using it.”

“No!” Clark blushes at his urgency. He clears his throat. “I mean, no, no I don’t think that will be necessary.”

Bruce’s shoulders shake the slightest little bit in a laugh. If Clark didn’t have heightened senses he wouldn’t even have noticed it. “Right.”  Bruce looks over to Clark's TV, seeming to want to change the subject. "Were you about to watch a movie?"

Clark smiles, remembering how he and four year old Bruce sat on the couch and watched the movie the child picked out. "Yeah, I actually was."

Bruce stays silent for a few seconds before looking back at Clark. "What movie?"

“ _Punisher_." Clark goes over to put it in the DVD player. "The last time I watched a DVD it was a rated G movie because I had a little you to watch it with. Then, of course, there was that time I was watching bad late night movies but you don’t remember that. I mean you didn’t watch them with me but you came out from the bedroom and..." Clark trails off and instead holds the DVD case up to show Bruce. "Are you going back to Gotham?" Bruce shakes his head in the negative. "Really? That's not like you."

"I can take a night off Clark," he says.

Clark stares at him in disbelief. "Since when? Ten years ago?"

Bruce huffs a laugh. "Of course, not… I never took nights off ten years ago." They both laugh, Clark’s loud and Bruce’s quietly controlled, and Clark presses play at the DVD menu, making sure to hit pause as soon as it starts. "Besides, Tim has everything handled and if things get too out of hand then he can call Dick or Jason, probably Dick though. Plus Damian has been begging me to allow him to go on patrol alone at some point and I thought now would be a good night since everyone is pretty much still locked up in Arkham. I’m having Tim keep an eye on him though since he can be a little… aggressive."

“I’ll say.” Clark smiles at him. "Do you want to stay and watch the movie with me then?" Bruce looks at the TV and bites his bottom lip. Clark follows the action with his eyes and has to bite his own lip to stop himself from smiling. "You do that when you're nervous, you know?"

Bruce looks back to him. _Gosh, his eyes really are a silvery blue._ "What?"

Clark can't hold back the smile this time and his friend raises an eyebrow. _He does that a lot too, it would seem._ "You were just doing it, biting your lip."

"You pay that much attention to me?" A smile ghosts on his lips.

Clark shrugs. "Of course, I do, I-" Clark catches himself before he can say the word 'love'. "You're my best friend."

Bruce studies him then and it makes Clark a little uncomfortable. No matter how often Batman stares at Superman or Bruce stares at Clark as if he's trying to figure something out or analyze something, he'll never be used to it. "You blush when you're nervous."

It's so sudden and unexpected, Clark flushes red. "I do not!" he protests and Bruce raises an eyebrow again. "Okay, maybe I do." Clark crosses his arms and looks away in a mixture of defiance and defeat. It causes Bruce to chuckle which really doesn't help Clark’s blush.

Bruce shrugs then. "You tend to blush easily anyway." Clark still refuses to look at the man and said man chuckles again. Clark's not sure he's ever heard adult Bruce _laugh_ so much in one setting. Hell, in one _day_. "I'll watch the movie with you Clark. Do you have something more comfortable I can change into though?"

"You want to change?" Clark asks in surprise, finally looking at him.

Bruce nods. "Well I don't really want to sit through a two hour movie in this suit."

"O...Okay." Clark leaves the room and goes to his bedroom. He hasn't even been in his bedroom yet since he got home. Now, memories of a small four year old Bruce flood his brain. He sighs, digs out a pair of his pajamas while avoiding child Bruce’s drawer, and goes back out into the living room to hand them to the man. Bruce, instead of going to the bathroom to change like some _normal_ person, decides to change right there in the living room and right in front of Clark. Clark, of course, blushes again, and turns around so not to watch him, which is actually more for Clark's benefit than Bruce's.

A presence comes up beside him where Clark was trying to concentrate on anything other than an _adult_ Bruce being half naked right behind him. _He shouldn’t be this affected. He’s already seen adult Bruce fully naked plenty of times by now. Just whatever happens, don’t picture it as a strip tease. Shit!_ “Ready?” He jumps slightly.

Clark turns around and looks at his friend. The shirt fits him perfectly but the pajama bottoms are a little wide for Bruce's slim waist and they hang low on his hips. Clark licks his lips and, _his good for nothing traitorous cheeks_ , blushes a deep red. "Yeah, let me just..." He clears his throat. "Let me just change too." He goes back to his bedroom and takes his time to calm himself and change into another pair of pajamas. When he goes back into the living room, Bruce is still standing there. "You going to sit or are you going to train while watching?"

Bruce rolls his eyes but Clark can tell he's not really annoyed. "You sit first." He gestures to the couch.

Suspiciously and eyeing Bruce warily, Clark takes his place on the couch. It's the same place that he sat in with kid Bruce. Bruce finally decides to join him and to Clark's even more surprise, cuddles up right next to his side, pressing close with his feet up on the couch and his knees drawn in, just like little Bruce did when they watched the movie. "What- what are you doing?"

"Watching the movie. You going to play it?" Bruce says calmly and with no hint of any other emotion.

"But..." Clark stammers. "But why are you..."

Bruce eyes him carefully. "Well, aren't we supposed to watch the movie together, like this, and then you pick me up, bring me to your room, and then we snuggle until we both fall asleep? Except this time you don’t have to change me into pajamas since I’m already wearing some."

Clark stares at him flabbergasted. "You... You... You remember everything?" Bruce doesn’t say anything and doesn’t move. "But... but... You told the others you didn't remember."

"I didn't think you would want the others to start asking questions of what you and I got up to when I was four,” Bruce says.

"Not really but you should have at least told me." Clark is in no way about to freak out. _Not at all_.

“I was going to up on the Watchtower when everyone went home but…” He trails off. “I guess I kind of chickened out.”

“I think you do that often,” Clark points out, heart beating hard in his chest. “So… you remember but do you still not want to talk about it? I mean, how you revealed that you remember kind of gives that impression.”

Bruce begins to stiffen next to him, an indicator to Clark that he’s starting to feel his fight or flight response to this conversation. Which means it could go two ways; Bruce could start an argument that will only end in both of them being pissed off and never talking about this or when he was de-aged, or Bruce can flee and tell Clark that he has to go and they still end up never talking about this or when he was de-aged. Clark waits to see which one wins out, after all, if he remembers everything that happened while he was a four year old, that means he remembers all the arguments, all the pain Clark put him through, all the good times and how much they enjoyed spending time together, and the two most important things, Clark telling him that he loves him and _little_ _Bruce_ telling _Clark_ that _adult Bruce_ might love him back. That’s a lot of things that were revealed to Clark and a lot of things to take in for such a man who is as closed off as Bruce.

After a long pause, Bruce finally says, “I…” Clark can hear Bruce’s heart beating rapidly in his chest. He grows quiet again and his body is rigid. Clark finds it amazing how fast his defenses can come up. The only thing that has happened is Bruce showing Clark that he remembers everything that happened while he was de-aged. They haven’t even said anything else about it or discussed it thoroughly and he’s already on guard.

“Don’t.” Clark stops him from getting up as soon as he sees a muscle flex by placing a hand on his bicep. “Don’t shut down on me. You came here and brought this up which must mean somewhere in you wants to talk about it. Don’t run away from that.”

“Clark I’m...” Bruce looks down at his knees and mumbles so softly that Clark almost misses it, “I’m scared.”

“I know you are,” Clark acknowledges. “I know, but you don’t need to be scared with me. Bruce, you never have to be scared with me.”

Bruce stays silent for a few more seconds. He then looks over at Clark with pain filled and conflicted eyes. “I can’t,” he hisses. Bruce then goes back to studying his knees. Clark opens his mouth to say something to try and prompt him since that’s the easiest way Clark can think to get Bruce to open up but Bruce says abruptly, “You said that you loved me.” _Okay, that’s a little safer ground for Bruce. Talk about myself not him._

“I did,” Clark agrees hesitantly, worried about causing the Bat to flee despite the subject not being about Bruce specifically. After all, it’s still about emotions and feelings.

Bruce licks his lips. “Since when?”

Clark groans and sits back against the couch, rubbing a hand through his hair and messing it up. “Oh Bruce, that’s like asking me when I decided to become a superhero.” Bruce looks at him then, curiosity winning over fear. “You see, it’s so complicated because sometimes I think about when we first met and how I was jealous. Except I’m no longer sure who I was jealous of, Lois or you. At the time I thought I was jealous of you because you got to date Lois but thinking about it now, I might have actually been jealous of Lois because she got to date _you_.”

Bruce’s face is scrunched. “Don’t tell me it was ‘falling in love at first sight’ crap.”

Clark laughs. “No, I don’t think so. I couldn’t stand you.”

“Good to know.” Bruce begins to relax slightly.

“Hey, you couldn’t stand me either, don’t deny it.” Bruce smiles a little. “Besides, I’m not talking about love at the moment; I’m talking about sexual attraction. I can’t say you weren’t hot and the intimidating dominance act you did only made you that much more so.” Bruce snorts and Clark smiles. “Anyways, at the time I didn’t know what I was feeling towards you because I thought I was an all American, heterosexual, farm boy from Kansas. I didn’t even dream about considering that I might be bisexual.”

“You strike me more as a pansexual,” Bruce states.

“Pansexual?” Clark asks.

Bruce looks at him and then back to his knees. “I’ll explain it later. Then you can decide if it fits you better.”

“You do realize that I’ve only been attracted to three people that I know of, right?” Bruce gives him a look that says ‘of course, I do, I’m not stupid’ and Clark feels his face heat up. “Of course, I could have been at least sexually attracted to many other people without knowing it.”

“Clark,” Bruce butts in and Clark prompts him to keep going by looking at him but Bruce continues to not look back. “Are you a virgin?”

_Yep, that makes the heat on his face a hundred times worse._ “N-no, of course, not.” Bruce then gives him a look that says, ‘don’t lie to me, Kent’. “I’m telling the truth, I swear.” Bruce raises an eyebrow and Clark fidgets under the intense gaze. “Okay, I’m not with women but I’ve never had sex with a man before.” Clearing his throat, Clark changes the subject. “When did you find out that you were... pansexual?”

Bruce blinks slowly at this, thinking over his answer. “I identify as bisexual, it’s easier for the media and they don’t butcher the definition too bad. Plus it just fits better.”

This time it’s Clark’s turn to blink at him. “A-Alright.” He shifts his weight. “So, when did you figure that out?”

Bruce makes a thinking face, mostly for Clark’s benefit he thinks, and says, “My senior year of high school.”

Clark barks a laugh. “Yeah, and how _old_ were you when you were a senior?”

Another thinking look. “Sixteen.”

Clark laughs again and playfully shoves Bruce on the shoulder. “Of course, you were.”

“Hey,” Bruce shoves him back and Clark goes with the motion. “You could have graduated early too if you didn’t hide how smart you were, idiot.”

Clark smiles at him and takes joy in the small smile on Bruce’s face. “Only you can call me smart and an idiot at the same time.” He chuckles. “Unlike the Prince of Gotham, I couldn’t afford to bring attention to myself. So I made sure to get just a few wrong answers but also not enough right answers to look like a prodigy either.” The laughter dies down and Bruce has completely relaxed now, leaning slightly against Clark’s side. “Do you think me finding out I’m bi or pan or whatever this late in life is, well, late?”

Bruce scoffs. “No, I don’t. There are plenty of people that don’t realize what their sexuality is until later in life. Don’t worry about it.” He slaps the back of Clark’s head lightly, not that he would have hurt Clark but Clark assumes he didn’t want to hurt himself. Bruce then sighs and settles in more, resting his head on Clark’s shoulder. “Thank you for taking care of me Clark.”

Clark resists the urge to kiss him on the top of the head, knowing that action will just serve to ruin everything and scare him off. “No problem, you’re my friend so I would do anything for you.”

“Except pretend to be my father.” This time it’s not Bruce who stiffens but Clark. The feeling of the Man of Steel stiffening causes Bruce to sit up and look at him. He doesn’t look hurt or annoyed, not even his default angry, he just looks curious. “Why?”

Clark shrugs, deciding the TV screen is a lot more interesting than Bruce’s beautiful eyes. “I didn’t want you to continue thinking of me as your father or family when you got turned back.”

“No that’s not it,” Bruce says suspiciously. “What’s the real reason?”

“That is the real reason,” Clark mumbles.

Bruce’s eyes narrow. “Well that’s stupid.”

Clark rolls his eyes and grumbles, “So I’ve been told.”

“What’s the other reason?” Bruce asks.

Clark sighs. He should have known Bruce would know there’s more than one reason behind the way he acted. He sighs again. “I also didn’t want to be your father because I didn’t want to…” He takes a deep breath. “I didn’t want to get attached to a child version of you which, by the way, I did anyways.”

“And that’s why you’re like this?” Bruce indicates all around him but doesn’t elaborate on what exactly he means.

“Like what exactly?” Bruce raises his eyebrows in order to tell Clark to ‘stop playing games’ and that he knows exactly what Bruce is talking about. Clark rolls his eyes again. “I don’t know Bruce, I just miss having you as a little kid, that’s all.”

“Why?” Bruce asks.

Clark avoids eye contact. “Don’t get me wrong Bruce, I’m glad you’re back to normal, really glad, but when you were just a little four year old you were so much more open. You liked being around me and the other Justice League members and you didn’t hide that. You showed me how much you care about me and how much you need me to the point of being clingy. You told me how you felt towards me, that you love me, and you being so open and expressive, that’s totally lost now. I mean, Bruce, you _cried_. You cried a lot and that’s not something people see you do every day or ever. Hell, you even showed how you really feel about Wally.”

Bruce groans and rubs at his face. “Don’t remind me about that. The kid will never let me live it down.”

Clark smiles fondly. “Just give him your Bat-glare and he’ll learn.” His smile fades. “I’m just going to miss how different you were, how much more you showed, and how much you actually wanted me. I’m never going to get that back and-” he cuts himself off, not being able to continue. Clark looks down to the floor.

“Who says you’re never going to see that again?” Clark looks to his friend in confusion. “Who says I’m not going to show you how much I want you anymore?”

“Because I know you,” Clark says. “You might have been open enough as a four year old to cry openly in front of me and to tell me you love me, but you and I both know I’m never going to see or hear that again. You probably don’t even love me like that anyways.”

“Says you,” Bruce says, sounding a bit defensive. “I can’t believe you’re even bringing that up again. You can’t tell me that I don’t love you when you don’t know how I feel. You’re not me Clark. Only I can know how I really feel towards you.”

“Bruce,” Clark says. “The adult you, you now, is like incapable of talking about feelings. For crying out loud, Bruce, we practically almost didn’t have this conversation because you almost ran away from it. So even if you somehow do love me in a romantic way, then I’m still never going to hear it because you’re too afraid to do anything about it.”

Bruce stands, looking angry now. “And what? I can’t try to change that about myself? And, damn it Clark, stop doubting what I feel towards you. There is no ‘somehow’ there just is.”

Clark stands too. He doesn’t want Bruce to leave because he’s angry but he also needs to make things clear. “Okay, fine, you do love me. The little four year old version of you was correct and I was wrong, but you know what your love looks like, Bruce? You’ve raised four boys and each one you have a strained relationship with.”

“Says the guy who doesn’t have any better of a relationship with Kon than I do with my boys.” Bruce is starting to get tense again and his eyes are narrowing. “At least with my boys I _have tried_ to be a good father to them. You didn’t even want Kon at first, remember?”

Clark crosses his arms. “That’s not the point.”

“Then what is? I have tried with those boys and I think our relationship is a bit better than what you believe it is.” His voice is lowering. Clark doesn’t want to talk to Batman though, he wants to continue to talk to Bruce, the real Bruce.

He takes a deep breath. “Okay, maybe with Dick and Tim but you can’t deny the strained relationship you have with Jason and Damian, and Damian is your own blood.”

“So is Kon with you.” Bruce takes a step towards him, straightening his stance to seem taller. “So tell me, Kal, how can you judge me on my relationship with them when you can’t even fix your own?”

Clark looks away, tries to calm himself. He looks back to Bruce once he’s gained his composure a little more. “I’m not judging. I didn’t mean to make you think that.” Bruce still doesn’t relax and Clark knows he’s a hair away from Batman showing up. He’s going to have to pick his next words carefully. “I admit, your relationship with the boys is a lot better than mine with Kon, and I’m trying too, I am, but there’s a difference between _trying_ to have a functional relationship with your kids and _trying_ to have a functional relationship with someone you love in a romantic way.” Bruce takes a step back but he’s still on high alert, still glaring. “You don’t have the best track record when it comes to these things, when it comes to dating someone, and God knows I don’t have that much experience with it so...”

Bruce is shaking his head. “Why are you trying to ruin this? Push me away? You’re the one that didn’t want to get attached to a child version of me because you love me. Hell, just the fact that you do love me is in a way a miracle. I kind of think that’s a difficult thing to do so one would think that if you know I love you back you would want to have a relationship with me. You being,” He flails his arms at Clark. “You, I would have thought you’d jump at the opportunity even if it is ‘trying’, which apparently is different to you.”

“Stop putting yourself down,” Clark says.

“What?” Bruce asks.

Clark clarifies. “You said it’s hard to love you but it’s not. Alfred loves you, the boys love you including Jason and Damian, Cass, Steph, and Barbra love you, and some people even love Batman. The Justice League members, yes even John, loves you and I love you. You have plenty of people who love you Bruce.” Bruce is looking at him like he’s crazy. “You just don’t see it. You could never be a burden, no matter what state of being you’re in; we love you too much to consider you a burden. If anything, you’re an asset. We had our asses handed to us when we were fighting the Gorganerians and I don’t know if we could have done better with you there calling the shots, but all I do know is that it would have helped. You’re the guy that plans things, the guy that is always ready and almost right all the time. We need you. _I_ need you.”

Bruce has stopped looking at him and has decided to stare at the floor. “Then tell me, if I’m ‘almost right all the time’ and you ‘need me’,” He looks up and Clark is surprised to actually see hurt in his eyes. “Then why can’t you believe me when I say I want to try to make this work? _Really_ try.”

Clark throws his hands up in frustration. “This isn’t even like you.” He turns away, pinching the bridge of his nose. He walks to the window. “I’ve never seen you act like this before, Bruce. I’ve never seen you practically beg to give something a shot.” He turns around to face the man. “I’ve never seen you be so persistent with something that has to do with feelings and emotions and attached relationships. A-Are you like feeling okay? Did the magic screw with your head?”

Clark has angered him again. He knows because Bruce is currently shooting daggers at him with his eyes. “You want me to give up? Having a relationship with you is something that you want, is it not?” Clark doesn’t answer. “And you learn that it’s reciprocated and that the man who hides all his emotions from everyone is willing to step out of his comfort zone and have some kind of relationship with you, whether that be boyfriends or lovers, or hell, fuck buddies,” Clark flinches at the last one. “And all you have to say is that I should give up?” He’s yelling and his voice has gone into Batman territory. Bruce throws his hands up in anger. “Fine, if that’s what you want. But listen here, Kent, this was your _only_ chance. I won’t be giving another one.” He turns and walks out of Clark’s apartment, slamming the door behind him.

Clark sighs and bows his head. _How did this whole thing go from Bruce hiding his emotions, to Bruce basically pouring his heart out, at least in his own way, to Clark messing it all up again?_ Clark wipes at his eyes with his sleeve, feeling tears starting to prickle in them. _Maybe he should go on a late night patrol and clear his head? After all, he no longer wants to watch the movie._ Wiping at his eyes again and sniffling, he makes his way back to his balcony. He stops at the sliding door to take a deep breath and once he feels he’s ready, he opens the door.

Just before stepping out onto the balcony, and realizing he is still in his pajamas, Clark feels arms wrap around his midsection and a hard chest presses up against his back. There’s a warm cheek pressed against the back of his neck. “You’re an asshole; a stupid, lovable, asshole.”

Clark draws in a breath. “Bruce.”

“Stupid idiot,” Bruce continues. “Don’t you know you’re supposed to accept my love, which isn’t given easily mind you, and sweep me up off my feet? I’m a prince, you’re supposed to treat princes better than that.” Clark smiles at Bruce calling himself a prince. “You make a terrible knight in shining armor. I hope you never have to profess your love to any other prince because they’ll be just as baffled as I am by how you receive that love back.”

“Bruce.” Clark tries to turn in his arms but Bruce doesn’t allow him too by squeezing him tighter.

“I even told you I was scared. When do I ever tell anyone that? And then you have the gall to say I won’t try and trying is different between different relationships which is ridiculous.” Bruce is clutching at his pajamas, knuckles white. “How dare you say such a thing to a prince like me? Here I am trying and telling you I’ll keep trying and you shove it back in my face as if it doesn’t matter.”

“It does matter,” Clark says hastily but Bruce still ignores him.

Bruce moves his head so that his cheek is no longer pressing into his neck and is instead replaced with his forehead. Clark hears Bruce’s heartbeat speed up and Bruce lowers his voice to a whisper. “I want to touch you and see you naked. You’ve already seen me naked more than once but I want to _be_ naked _together_. I want to wake up with you beside me, especially after a long, taxing night. I want to share my breakfast with you and go on fancy dates and even lame ones that I know _you’ll_ pick out.” Clark snorts. “I want to kiss you and hold you and I want to make love to you over and over again. I want to share myself with you and I want you to share yourself with me. Clark I just want to try, I want to try so bad and I know I’m bad with words and feelings and I know it’ll be tough and we’ll argue still because we can never seem to agree on things, even something as trivial as this. I just don’t want you to give up on me when I screw up because I _will_ screw up but I’ll still be trying. Please Clark, I just want to try and I know, _I know_ , you want to too. So don’t... don’t throw it away without even knowing how far we can go.”

Silence fills the room and when Clark finally turns around in Bruce’s arms, he can see a blazing blush on his friend’s pretty cheeks. “Bruce?” Bruce looks up and there is so much love and devotion shown in those eyes that have seen so much, _too much_ , that Clark smiles. Bruce is being open with him, trying to be as open as possible right now, and Clark knows Bruce listened to him when he was talking about what he’ll miss about child Bruce. “Bruce I-”

Bruce cuts him off. “I want you. I’ve wanted you for a long time. Don’t make me ignore it for the rest of my life too. I... I love you Clark. I _need_ you too.”

Clark kisses him then, pressing his lips against Bruce’s gently, and cupping both sides of Bruce’s face. They kiss until they need to pull away in order for Bruce to catch his breath. Bruce is breathing heavily, heart pounding in his chest wildly, and Bruce’s bottom lip is immediately bitten from Bruce’s top and bottom teeth. Clark smiles at the nervous gesture that he’s sure Bruce doesn’t even notice he does, even after Clark pointed it out to him. Clark bites Bruce’s bottom lip and pulls it out from between Bruce’s teeth. He then kisses him again until Bruce is a little more relaxed and then reluctantly pulls away once more. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for almost pushing you away. I guess we both weren’t acting like ourselves.”

Bruce shakes his head, the blush retreating. “No, we weren’t.”

“I do want you, Bruce,” Clark says. “I want you really bad.”

“Then you should have said something instead of all that earlier, you idiot.” Bruce smiles at him. It’s not a big smile like Brucie’s but it’s a genuine one, the real Bruce’s smile.

Clark smiles in return, his own wide and toothy. He then looks back to the couch. “Why don’t we watch that movie? Then I’ll carry you to my bedroom except instead of snuggling, I’m thinking we can do a little more than that.”

Bruce kisses him. “Let’s.”

They walk back to the couch and a smile forms on Clark’s face as he sits down with Bruce. Looking at the man beside him now, Clark has a feeling he won’t be missing child Bruce as much anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whelp, that's the last chapter. I want to thank everyone who read, stuck with the story through the whole thing, and left reviews. I'm so, so happy that you all enjoyed this story. It was a great pleasure! :)
> 
> Lots of love!


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